Interview Dead State Revealed

[Hoaxmetal]

Different types of scary. In most games(and movies) scary means that some stupid shit jumps out of the closet and attempts to rape you. Such type of scare obviously won`t work with turn based system.

Startling =/= scary.

 

[OSK]

That looks a lot better than I imagined.

 

[Silellak]

LMAO at the screenshots, they should just sell to EA already at call it The Sims: Zombie Edition

lol just like the sims

 

[Jeff Graw]

Brian Mitsoda believes in Global warming?

*sigh* big let down.

 

[Secretninja]

LMAO at the screenshots, they should just sell to EA already at call it The Sims: Zombie Edition

lol just like the sims

 

[Baron]

The game looks great.

Does 'Dead State' originally have the double sense it has when I translated it into spanish, bros?

Yep, it somewhat keeps it. It doesn't sound really cool, though. It would be something like "Estado de Muerte".

Dead State is a clever gag based on 'Red State'; any area of the US where over 50% of voters hold conservative values, expect American Jesus to return and bring war and tax cuts, or who get their information from a questionable source (FOX, Wikipedia, The Bible, their home schoolin' Mom).

for example...

Brian Mitsoda believes in Global warming?

*sigh* big let down.

Brraaaaaaiiiiiinnssss....

 

[Baron]

Incidentally, I love the M. Bison reference.


edit - lol, just seen your earlier post and website Elhoim. Sorry. Also love the game's use of colour, heh.

 

[Jaesun]

LMAO at the screenshots, they should just sell to EA already at call it The Sims: Zombie Edition

You are a really shit poster.

If there is no pedobear in this library, I am going to be dissapoint.

 

[Baron]

Aside from the protagonist and what looks like a Sheriff, it's exactly how I imagine a Texan library...

empty.

Maybe the posters' message is too subtle?

 

[SharkClub]

Suddenly: Isometric viewed game with survival elements = The Sims.

 

[Elhoim]

Suddenly: Isometric viewed game with survival elements = The Sims.

Heh.

Well, I do understand why they see this. Isometric camera, modern house interiors, etc. I'm not bothered they see it that way, especially for the shelter shots.

Also, I take that as a compliment. It feels good when you are being compared to the work of a big company with lots of artists and huge budget, while we have one guy doing characters models and myself with some model contributions doing environments.

Now, that is strictly speaking on a visual level. The gameplay has nothing to do with The Sims. When thinking about the shelter management, think about how X-COM handled the bases, and add named NPCs, dialogue, meetings, and crisis events to that.

 

[Tycn]

Why does it look so much nicer than AoD?

 

[Elhoim]

Why does it look so much nicer than AoD?

Because is newer. AoD for the most part uses assets that were made 2-3 years ago.

The latest AoD shots look better, though.

 

[Blind Eye]

Hasn't it also been ported over to the newer engine.

 

[zeitgeist]

Well, I do understand why they see this. Isometric camera, modern house interiors, etc. I'm not bothered they see it that way, especially for the shelter shots.

Also, I take that as a compliment. It feels good when you are being compared to the work of a big company with lots of artists and huge budget, while we have one guy doing characters models and myself with some model contributions doing environments.

You shouldn't take it as a compliment. You're misunderstanding why people are calling this Sims-like. It's because of sterile environments that evoke memories of interior design software such as Sierra Home Architect, not because you've somehow managed to perfectly capture that elusive slice of suburbia. The Sims were pretty poor in that regard too, it's nothing to be proud of.

If you can't do 3D well, but you can draw, do 2D. If you can't draw, don't bother modeling or making any kind of art assets, they won't look good. If your art assets look like they've been directly taken from one of those 3D model library DVDs, don't bother putting them into your game if you can't find a way to create a passable level of visual cohesion between them, even if you just wing it by clever use of colors and filters. And if you don't even understand color theory, why are you doing this in the first place. A lot of horrible mistakes, technological hurdles and limitation, or budgetary constraints can be salvaged or worked around if you know what you're doing.

For games that did the "zombies in modern suburbia" aesthetic with stylized and simplified 3D graphics, check out Dead Rising, or Left 4 Dead. For other zombie games with varying levels of technology and decent art direction, check out the Resident Evil Gamecube remake (and compare it with the original), Hunter: The Reckoning or Zombie Shooter. Hope that helps.

 

[latexmonkeys]

Now, that is strictly speaking on a visual level. The gameplay has nothing to do with The Sims. When thinking about the shelter management, think about how X-COM handled the bases, and add named NPCs, dialogue, meetings, and crisis events to that.

This game sounds almost too good to be true! I'm practically drooling with anticipation- can't remember the last time I was this excited about an RPG!

Startling =/= scary.

Quite correct.
Good zombie movies aren't about "gotcha" moments for the most part; rather an unsettling slow-build of tension, and the claustrophobic dread of inescapable situations.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Hmm this might very well become the very first game that i will buy.

On a side note, thanks for the sims 3 recommendation.

 

[tunguska]

If you can't do 3D well, but you can draw, do 2D. If you can't draw, don't bother modeling or making any kind of art assets, they won't look good.

Can you elaborate on this some more? For a while now I have been very interested in trying to get into digital art. But I have no traditional artistic talent. I can't draw to save my life. I took a drawing 101 course at my local uni and read through much of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which helped me a lot more than the art professor did. But I ended up dropping out of the course. It was just so obvious to me that artistic talent is not something you can learn, but something you are born with. My drawing did improve somewhat, but it was still crap. OTOH, I have modeled some fairly complex models of things like propellers and gears and farings with 3D parametric CAD software at a previous job. But those were not organic models. Some of the surfaces were complex, but they were mostly symmetric and were guided by optimizing for design constraints. I have watched some teaching videos for Maya and Lightwave and 3DS Max and read a lot about Z-Brush. Those polygon modelers don't seem to rely that much on traditional 2d art talent, but I could be wrong. Z-Brush OTOH does seem to require more traditional artistic abilities.

 

[Lesifoere]

You're misunderstanding why people are calling this Sims-like. It's because of sterile environments that evoke memories of interior design software such as Sierra Home Architect, not because you've somehow managed to perfectly capture that elusive slice of suburbia. The Sims were pretty poor in that regard too, it's nothing to be proud of.

If you can't do 3D well, but you can draw, do 2D. If you can't draw, don't bother modeling or making any kind of art assets, they won't look good. If your art assets look like they've been directly taken from one of those 3D model library DVDs, don't bother putting them into your game if you can't find a way to create a passable level of visual cohesion between them, even if you just wing it by clever use of colors and filters.

Plus one.

The art direction, or rather the lack of it, is hideous. Hideously hideous. It's not that the graffix aren't next-gen enough, they just don't seem to be done with any interest in achieving aesthetic appeal; it's slapped together to approximate concepts with only the faintest idea of what actual kitchens/libraries/fastfood joints look like, and the only way it could look passable would be if the player can zoom out really, really, really far.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Can't say I mind their style really. It looks a bit too sterile for a zombie game admittedly, but I can easily overlook that if the game is actually fun to play.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Knights of the Chalice looked better, btw

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I...really can't see what's so hideous about the art direction here.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

 

[Zomg]

That really does look like an elementary school library if realism is the thing, I don't know if the kitchen scene looks right. I think the graphic design of 2D stuff like the fast food logo is off-puttingly bad but meh, even if the art didn't suck it would still look shitty compared to real logos because those are designed by marketing firms that do fucking research on how to make nice logos that soothe and flatter the consumer brain

 

[zool]

Graphics are good for what they are. End of discussion.

The rest of the game sounds amazing. I especially like the emphasis on shelter management.