[green.pixel]

http://www.doublebearproductions.com/?page_id=7

• PC RPG, turn-based, isometric 3rd person perspective using Iron Tower Studio‘s Age of Decadence engine (Torque 3D).
• Game is being developed cooperatively with Iron Tower Studio and other talented independent developers
• Set during the breakdown of society as emergence of zombies causes widespread panic and disorder.
• Slow, shambling zombies. Spreads like a virus/bite transmission.
• 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.
• 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.

FAQ

Press

Media









Interview with Brian on RPS:

Dead State is set in Texas in the fictional town of Splendid, in the middle of nowhere. The idea being to create a landlocked place with few large cities and a distance between towns – and, metaphorically, a dying area in real life too. The game is predominantly rural and suburban in design, with the major cities basically forming a natural border for the map area. Because, frankly, due to the disaster, the cities aren’t where you go.

...

In short, with its freedom to explore and lack of a classical arc, this seems to draw heavily from the Fallout well. Marrying that to an unexplored (in this particular genre) theme, and we’ve got something that’s terribly exciting for anyone who cares about RPGs. We talked to Brian Mitsoda (ex-Troika, ex-Obsidian) about what’s waiting out there in the desert…

RPS: Can you elaborate on your vision of zombies? What are you trying to evoke in the game? What kind of things have influenced you?

Brian Mitsoda: On paper, our zombies are really not supposed to be threatening. They’re dumb, they’re slow, they’re unorganized – your very basic shambling corpse. They’re only dangerous when you forget about them. Make too much noise, get cornered, ignore them – that’s when they get dangerous. Most games deal with a Night of the Living Dead scenario where you have to survive one night, one wave, one map. We’re dealing with a long-term zombie threat, where you have to worry about keeping people fed, friends getting bit and infected while scavenging, and the desperation of other human beings. Honestly, the game is not about the zombies, but about how people react to a crisis and what they are willing to do to other human beings and even members of their group to stay alive or protect their own. The zombies are just a cause, like economic collapse or a massive earthquake, and it’s really the human self-preservation instinct and the survivor mentality that we’re interested in portraying.

I think the interesting thing about a disaster is this mentality that everything is going to be okay – that “someone” is going to come in and save me, of course. This idea that as long as you aren’t in immediate danger, you can keep your head down and hope the problem will go away. We’re short-term thinking creatures and we don’t like to think of the big picture implications of our actions – global warming, borrowing money, cutting education/space spending. I think rationally we want to believe the governments of the world would mobilize quick enough to stop a zombie plague (only infected people rise from the dead in our game) but I think that generally we’re only mobilized when we are directly threatened. By the time people start to notice the dead walking in their neck of the woods, the problem has spread beyond containment. The zombies in Dead State are a faceless (sometimes literally) force and dealing with the zombie problem is a lot like waging a war on an ideal.

Some more interviews:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/interview...ead-state.html
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...ous-Zombie-RPG

For Mitsoda, the relevance of the zombie setting in his game goes beyond the conceptual and into his real life experience. Having seen what disaster truly looks like living in Miami during Hurricane Andrew, the idea of social breakdown isn't just fiction for him. "There was destruction everywhere you looked...it took months to get things back to a modest definition of normal," he said. "Having lived through something like that, I felt a zombie scenario allowed me to take my own personal experience and work it into a broader examination of how humans deal with a crisis beyond their control."

http://thereticule.com/2009/08/doubl...and-the-bears/
About the name:

The Reticule – Why did you chose the DoubleBear as your company name and logo? Does this hold some special significance for you?

Brian Mitsoda – It does actually. Annie and I were looking at a list of silly D&D monsters when I suggested the “DoubleBear” as the ultimate monster, pointing out that since it was two bears acting as one, there was no way to sneak up on it or attack it from the back. A picture was drawn and photos were taken. When it was time to name the company, it won the second it was suggested.

TR – Brian, you used to work with a slew of RPG developers and worked on Vampire the Masquerade, how has your experience working with those companies influenced DoubleBear?

Brian – Ten years of experience on what not to do, that helps a lot. I started DoubleBear because I wanted to design and write for projects that I wanted to do, and didn’t want to spend the rest of my career waiting for the design crapshoot to deliver a decent project and/or having control over a title so that I don’t have to worry about the publisher “Wheel of Fate” landing on “lemon” and getting several years work flushed down the toilet. Again.

Really, when you look at what’s being made in the indie game market right now, there’s not a lot of RPGs or indie RPG companies out there. I knew there was an audience for RPGs that were less ambitious then the bigger budget titles coming out, but after announcing DoubleBear, we found out that that number was much, much bigger than we estimated. We’re taking our knowledge of RPGs and turning that experience into a project that I think that will be able to compete with larger projects, as far as the mechanics and writing goes. We hope DoubleBear is able to turn out a game that is as satisfying as other well-known RPGs, even if we aren’t pushing the amount of polys that the multi-million dollar projects are.

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum...pic,989.0.html

Because we don't have to focus test a game to please over a million people, we can do some things with the characters and themes that would never be allowed in a mass market game.

Bloodlines was very well written with some great characters. I guess this should be good too, as in really good.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

They'd better get a move on if they want it finished before the zombie backlash begins.

[Malo]

Zombie backlash? I wouldn't put the Zombie genre in the same context as all the stupid Vampire teen shit being released. I don't think it's that overdone to have an imminent backlash.

Interesting game idea, sounds quite an interesting take instead of the usual shoot-survival game.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Used to be niche, now it's over-exposed as everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. People will be getting bored of it soon.

[L233]

So he's going full-blast indie? Age of Decadence engine? My, my. I'm actually kind of interested in this.

[obonicus]

Originally Posted by Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.

Used to be niche, now it's over-exposed as everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. People will be getting bored of it soon.

That'd be true for a bigger release, this is way more niche. This is carried on Mitsoda's name; I doubt there are many people who will buy this who haven't been exposed to all the stuff he's written about how this game will work.

[Silent_Buddha]

Turn Based? 3rd person Isometric? Sweet. Now just hope the RPG elements are suitably complex and realistic. And that character developement is involed and extensive. I'd be a happy camper then.

With it being niche, hopefully they won't be tempted to dumb it down or make it simpler.

Regards,
SB

[Rodéric]

Yep, I already become tired of zombies/infected/whatever_excuse_to_have_dumb_AI_and_bad_animation ;p

If it's about survival it reminds me of "I am alive" from UBISoft. (upcoming I think)

[L233]

Everyone who hates on zombies is a fucking bigot. They're people, too.

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.

They'd better get a move on if they want it finished before the zombie backlash apocalypse begins.

Fixed.

Doesn't sound half bad, and I'm all for indie devs trying out the self-publish-DD model for niche RPGs.

[I.S.T.]

I'm lookin' forward to this. It seems like one of the few games to use zombies in a non-annoying/idiotic fashion.

[green.pixel]

First preview:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/03/dead-state-preview/

Even if it didn’t have zombies, I’ve waited at least a decade to play a modern game with X-COM’s mechanics commingled with a few of the original Fallout’s RPG sensibilities. Bring on Dead State.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by L233

Age of Decadence engine?

it says in brackets Torque 3d, is that Torque of tribes 2 fame ?

[green.pixel]

Originally Posted by Davros

it says in brackets Torque 3d, is that Torque of tribes 2 fame ?

It is, I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_(game_engine)

[Bludd]

I pledged some cash for the kickstarter.

There are just 15 hours left. They need 80k to hit all their stretch goals.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...e-survival-rpg

[Bludd]

Good news, we reached the 330k stretch goal so there will be animals and dog allies.

[Davros]

writer/designer on Bloodlines

For those who loved that game, it is still being actively patched
http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php