Dead Island Interview
Ask your typical vacationer some terms he associates with an island getaway and you’ll likely hear “piña coladas,” “sandy beaches,” and “skimpy bikinis.”
But ask that very question to any of the gents at Techland and the response will be more along the lines of “bloodied crowbars,” “edible brains,” and “survival.”
An ambitious, open-ended zombie action game, Dead Island is the latest title under development by the Polish studio that brought gamers Call of Juarez and Chrome.
To answer our most burning questions about Dead Island, we noshed on the brain of the game’s producer, Adrian Ciszewski.
Primotech: Tell us, if you would, when production on Dead Island began and where the concept for the game came from.
Adrian Ciszewski: The project was in our minds since we had finished Chrome and now is the right time to do this. Basically we all are huge zombies fans, and from this fascination the great ideas for the game were born. I think that the zombie genre gives an opportunity to show many interesting things apart from lots of gore. Human behavior and their relations during the fight for survival. It’s the same thing with Dead Island. We have survivors who are trying to stay alive, no matter what the cost is. That brings all kinds of situations which occur in a post apocalyptic world.
PT: Zombies are getting a lot of love from game developers lately, between Capcom’s Dead Rising last year and Valve’s Left4Dead coming early 2008. What sets Dead Island apart?
AC: Dead Island is a totally different type of game, first of all it’s an FPP title [first-person perspective] so the experience while playing is much more realistic. We like to call Dead Island a genuine First Person Melee game. It’s because we assume that the player will fight with everything he finds and what he can handle to carry. Second of all we applied RPG elements to make the gameplay more varied. I think these elements put Dead Island far above a standard FPS or classical survival horror.
PT: What has the team learned from its recent titles like Call of Juarez that carries over to Dead Island?
AC: “Call Of Juarez” is not the first game created by Techland. Earlier there was Chrome, Xpand Rally, their sequels and a lot more titles. After each we gain new development experiences and we know exactly what players want and what keeps them in front of their computers for a long time.
If we speak about things that we use in Dead Island, for sure it will be the Chrome Engine. Obviously we will tweak it especially for Dead Island requirements and main ideas. Lots of things are developed from the grounds up for example the damage system but primary engine functions are the same as in the previous title. Thanks to Chrome Engine 4 we managed to create PC and Xbox 360 versions simultaneously which is a big advantage for us.
In terms of the gameplay mechanics it’s a totally different matter. Dead Island is a different title than Call Of Juarez. It focuses more on melee combat rather than classic shooting.
We want to achieve a maximum polishing for the game that every gamer always wanted to play. That’s why most of the pressure is put on the alpha version and beta tests.
PT: How open-ended is Dead Island, with regards to both gameplay and storyline?
AC: Dead Island is non-linear game which means that you will have a lot of choices to make, different tasks to accept, some of which will help while other will harm. Every completed quest will have it’s effect on the surrounding world. The main character will gain friends or foes. You will also have a chance to back track previous locations and pick a task that you didn’t get earlier. You can do lot of things but you don’t have to, you can just go sightseeing or killing zombies that stand in your way. Your every action has its consequences. There are some factions on the island that fight against each other. They fight for food, water and other things because they have their own goals. You can decide to help one of them to get something extra. It might be a weapon or some vehicle. If you help them other groups will be hostile towards you. Everything is up to you.
PT: AI is tricky in a zombie game because zombies don’t have a whole lot of brains to begin with. At least, brains of their own. How do you overcome this?
AC: No one really knows how zombies act because they don’t really exist. That’s why we got a lot of freedom. Of course we want to be accurate with George A. Romero and other creators of the zombie subject. In Dead Island zombies behavior is based on primal instincts, I would even say it’s animal-like. The main character can take advantage of zombies constant hunger for fresh human flesh, for example if he sees a small group of slow walking undead he can act as a bait and get them to a hostile camp to do their thing and I don’t mean engage in small talk.
PT: What kind of combat should we expect? Close-quarters melee style? A traditional first-person shooter system?
AC: Definitely close-quarters melee style. Ultra realistic combat system and innovative controls allow for very precise hit system making the combat sensational and realistic. Each pickable object may serve as a weapon. Obviously the size and dimensions of certain objects make them useful only as projectiles.
Finally we want to gain real-life conditions in the game where each object that could be used as a weapon actually can be. Being in such locations as a hotel kitchen or room, shop for divers or gas station, gives us an opportunity to find objects necessary to fight with the living dead. Every location will offer various range of weapons assortment. Weapons will break gradually, for example wooden objects will finally crack and iron will bend which will reduce their effectiveness. Firearms is a rare phenomenon on the island and access to them will be very limited due to, for example, small amount of ammo. That is why the player has to constantly look for objects that can be used as effective weapons. That element brings all the fun when playing.
PT: The screenshots released so far highlight very impressive weather and lighting effects. Does the island have a day/night cycle and dynamic weather system? How do they affect gameplay?
AC: Naturally daytime and weather will change dynamically. It will have a great impact on the gameplay.
PT: Should we expect multiplayer in any form?
AC: We’re constantly facing the multiplayer issue. We are looking for some fine and fresh ideas which will fit the game but we don’t want to make another standard multiplayer which is just addition to single player campaign. It’s supposed to be something special.
PT: What platforms should we expect the game on? Do you have a timeframe for a release?
AC: Dead Island is announced for PC and Xbox 360. The decision on PS3 portage will be in publisher’s hands. No, we don’t have any time frame at the moment.
PT: Thanks for taking the time out from the zombies to answer our questions. We know they can be pretty demanding.
