Zombie Command

At first, the story seems oh so fa

miliar… deadly virus outbreak, post-apocalyptic city, zombie hoards. But upcoming MMORPG, ZDay, has more than a few surprises up its sleeve.

For a start, the game is being built completely by fans working in their spare time – devoting their lives to the project – along with Arrowhead Games, a start-up development company. Their aim is to keep the as game free and independent as possible.

Throw in clever little twists like the hunger bar (giving the game a sense of realism and urgency not found elsewhere), and suddenly ZDay seems more than your usual fan-created game.

What’s more, uniquely, players bitten by the infected will not only die, but will – in a complete reversal of the game’s point of view – reawaken as a zombie capable of wreaking mayhem across the city.

We spoke to “Watson”, the game’s project lead, to find out more…

ZombieCommand: Where did ZDay begin?

Watson: The game itself came from the thought that there are not enough unique zombie games out there which don’t involve getting from A to B – whilst blasting every moving thing in sight to smithereens.And through our years of online gaming, we found that games which required teamwork were much more rewarding and challenging than simply playing on your own.While trying to be different and unique, we realised that a zombie-filled game with a massive environment to explore is just too good to miss! It’s like crossing World of Warcraft with zombies, while still keeping the action element of gaming with the FPS style.And it’s this idea which will set ZDay apart from other zombie-themed games.

ZC: So it’s not just an online version of Left 4 Dead?

W: Far from it! The problem with games like Left 4 Dead is the environment is designed to lead you through from point A to point B, with very little room to explore.This is where ZDay is different. You make the decisions about where to explore, which buildings you enter and what items you find on the way.With practically all buildings being explorable, it’s an endless search for those special items which will help you survive the horde! Ammo will have limits, and unlike Left 4 Dead, you won’t be able to run out and blast everything you see.Tactical thinking on when you make your move, which items and weapons you conserve (and even which players you trust) will bring an exciting element to the gameplay.

ZC: You reward your most active forum members by allowing them to test the game in development – how important is this?

W: We like to praise those who actively contribute to the community forums and continually show their support for ZDay by offering exclusive testing positions to our most active members.Not only do our testers find bugs and report errors, but they also give feedback on the gameplay during development in order to improve features.When ZDay was first created, I wanted to include the community throughout development – showing them screenshots and teasers for VERY early content created, which is something game developers don’t usually do!Our philosophy is that the game is the community’s.

ZC: When will ZDay be out?

W: A question which often gets asked, yet rarely receives an answer. Because our development team work for free, during whatever spare time they have, we can’t really set hard and fast deadlines.That being said, we are hoping for a release in 2010.However, our plan is to release the game in 4 stages, which means we won’t be developing for years without you guys having something to play.

ZC: How much is it going to cost?

W: We would love to keep it free to be totally honest!The only issue we’ll face upon release is the cost of the servers. Obviously a server to hold hundreds of players online at once is not going to come cheap, and without a source of income we can’t guarantee a good quality server.At the moment we rely on kind donations from members of the ZDay community.I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the fantastic development team here at ZDay for all their continued hard work and commitment to the project.Working on something day-in day-out without getting paid is a huge task and without these fantastic guys here, we would be far from completion.

We are always on the lookout for volunteers who wish to help out to create ZDay, so please do get in touch if you feel you can contribute to development in any way.

So my thanks go to Andy, Chris, Jacob, Dan, Tony, Joseph, Anton, Jonathon, James, Jordan and Zach for their continued hard work on the project.

ZC: And finally, what will be your weapon of choice in the inevitable zombie apocalypse?

W: The minigun. ‘Nuff said!

So it looks like ZDay is definitely coming. But not ‘til 2010. Probably.

For more info or to take part in the community and testing visit the official site.

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At first, the story seems oh so familiar… deadly virus outbreak, post-apocalyptic city, zombie hoards. But upcoming MMORPG, ZDay, has more than a few surprises up its sleeve.
For a start, the game is being built completely by fans working in their spare time – devoting their lives to the project – along with Arrowhead Games, a start-up development company. Their aim is to keep the as game free and independent as possible.

Throw in clever little twists like the hunger bar (giving the game a sense of realism and urgency not found elsewhere), and suddenly ZDay seems more than your usual fan-created game.
What’s more, uniquely, players bitten by the infected will not only die, but will – in a complete reversal of the game’s point of view – reawaken as a zombie capable of wreaking mayhem across the city.
We spoke to “Watson”, the game’s project lead, to find out more…
ZombieCommand: Where did ZDay begin?
Watson: The game itself came from the thought that there are not enough unique zombie games out there which don’t involve getting from A to B – whilst blasting every moving thing in sight to smithereens.And through our years of online gaming, we found that games which required teamwork were much more rewarding and challenging than simply playing on your own.While trying to be different and unique, we realised that a zombie-filled game with a massive environment to explore is just too good to miss! It’s like crossing World of Warcraft with zombies, while still keeping the action element of gaming with the FPS style.And it’s this idea which will set ZDay apart from other zombie-themed games.

ZC: So it’s not just an online version of Left 4 Dead?
W: Far from it! The problem with games like Left 4 Dead is the environment is designed to lead you through from point A to point B, with very little room to explore.This is where ZDay is different. You make the decisions about where to explore, which buildings you enter and what items you find on the way.With practically all buildings being explorable, it’s an endless search for those special items which will help you survive the horde! Ammo will have limits, and unlike Left 4 Dead, you won’t be able to run out and blast everything you see.Tactical thinking on when you make your move, which items and weapons you conserve (and even which players you trust) will bring an exciting element to the gameplay.

ZC: You reward your most active forum members by allowing them to test the game in development – how important is this?
W: We like to praise those who actively contribute to the community forums and continually show their support for ZDay by offering exclusive testing positions to our most active members.Not only do our testers find bugs and report errors, but they also give feedback on the gameplay during development in order to improve features.When ZDay was first created, I wanted to include the community throughout development – showing them screenshots and teasers for VERY early content created, which is something game developers don’t usually do!Our philosophy is that the game is the community’s.

ZC: When will ZDay be out?
W: A question which often gets asked, yet rarely receives an answer. Because our development team work for free, during whatever spare time they have, we can’t really set hard and fast deadlines.That being said, we are hoping for a release in 2010.However, our plan is to release the game in 4 stages, which means we won’t be developing for years without you guys having something to play.

ZC: How much is it going to cost?
W: We would love to keep it free to be totally honest!The only issue we’ll face upon release is the cost of the servers. Obviously a server to hold hundreds of players online at once is not going to come cheap, and without a source of income we can’t guarantee a good quality server.At the moment we rely on kind donations from members of the ZDay community.I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the fantastic development team here at ZDay for all their continued hard work and commitment to the project.Working on something day-in day-out without getting paid is a huge task and without these fantastic guys here, we would be far from completion.
We are always on the lookout for volunteers who wish to help out to create ZDay, so please do get in touch if you feel you can contribute to development in any way.
So my thanks go to Andy, Chris, Jacob, Dan, Tony, Joseph, Anton, Jonathon, James, Jordan and Zach for their continued hard work on the project.

ZC: And finally, what will be your weapon of choice in the inevitable zombie apocalypse?
W: The minigun. ‘Nuff said!
So it looks like ZDay is definitely coming. But not ‘til 2010. Probably.
For more info or to take part in the community and testing visit the official site.
[flickr]set:72157619312520147[/flickr]
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