It’s been quite a journey. http://store.steampowered.com/app/349150/

Now that we are getting really close to coming out on Steam, I had a little fun compiling a before/after pic with a screenshot from the very first prototype and one from our current map 2.

Find our new release trailer and screenshots here!

For more than a year we’ve been working on a strategic FPS based on a prototype we did for the “The Walking Dead” game jam. We put a very early version up on Steam Greenlight* and got hammered by the Steam Community for the placeholder art we used in the prototype. Deservedly so.

The good news is the community did like the gameplay we introduced and quietly, while we enjoyed a nice run with Fighter Physics, voted our campaign up until it unexpectedly got greenlit last week.

Needless to say we are extremely happy about this. And we are throwing our full weight behind it to make it a respectable Steam title. Very happy with the gameplay and tester feedback so far, working on graphics.

And we settled on a name: Dead TrailZ

It nicely hints at an aspect of the game we really like. You need to predict his path real time with the info the map gives you and adjust your strategy to keep his way clear aka zombie-free.

* I’m putting this link out very reluctantly. This is not imposter syndrome, this is me knowing just how bad some of the material was. And what you see there is already better than the first round

Pictures from our booth at Denver ComicCon

The best thing about Colorado: The amazing people living here!

“This is like killing my brothers”

Eric (ArcenGames) photobombing us before opening

My best score: 13,500.
His best score (on day two after coming back): 15,850

Endless sniper fun

Doing her part!

July 2013:

We make a prototype for the Oculus Rift as our first joint game. You play a sorcerer standing on top of a castle wall, defending against an attacking army of ents & dragons. We add an element of soldiers passing from one side to the other and the player has to defend them.

Fall 2013:

I’m a huge The Walking Dead fan. Love how the show carves out aspects of the apocalypse that are neglected in all the shorter formats. Like the permanent presence of imminent death, often depending on a quick reaction from your peers. We felt the format of our prototype would nicely convert into this scenario

Fall 2013, 2 weeks later:

We submit our prototype that has survivors running towards you and you have to pave the path for them to reach you. A small backstory introduces a train as the destination for those survivors, going to an unnamed, safe place. The game gets the mysterious name “Last Call, Paradise”

Late Fall 2013:

Our prototype makes finals and gets some nice press mentions. We decide to make it our first commercial release.

GDC 2014:

I present an almost finished game with to my Indie peers. They all hate the puzzle element of needing to learn a level scenario before being able to master it. They all love the protect-your-friend scenario and fast paced sniping mechanism. Over the course of the convention we decide to give an endless version a try, as strongly suggested by pretty much everybody. Also, nobody else finds our mysterious game name mysterious and after hearing Alexander Bruce’s name change story we decide to go with the simpler “Dead TrailZ”.

June 2014:

The endless-runner mechanic is so compelling to play, it is the core game of the first release candidate. We hope to come out on mobile first in June, then build up cross-platform and re-introduce the puzzle variation into the desktop version. We will first show the game publicly at the Denver ComicCon.