Undead Labs

AUTHOR: Emily DATE RECORDED: November 11, 2011 AT 15:47PM

I first met Erik Schmidt during our trip to the firing range last summer. He was our instructor, the guy who stood next to us in our firing stalls and taught us gun safety, proper stance, and all of those other things we needed to actually hit our targets while not shooting ourselves in the foot. You know those times when you meet someone and you’re immediately amazed by how much they know and how much they genuinely love what they do? This was one of them.

As it turns out, Erik loves zombies almost as much as he loves guns, and he’s put as much thought into his own hypothetical survival plan as any of us. So much thought, in fact, that he’s become Brant’s unofficial firearms consultant (and personal training instructor).

In celebration of Veteran’s Day, I sat down with this bad-ass former Marine to learn a little more about his career and to get his thoughts on everything zombie — from his opinion on which caliber is best for taking out zeds to how he’ll be contributing to Class3.

Read on to see what he had to say!

First off, tell me about yourself! What’s your background?

Well, my professional history with weapons goes back to the eight years I served in the Marine Corps, where I was a combat engineer, a rifleman, and a machine gunner. During my time as a Marine, I participated in the first Gulf War (Operations Desert Shield/Storm).

After the military, I went to college for criminal justice and was hired as a Federal K9 Enforcement Officer soon after I graduated. A few years later, I moved into local law enforcement with specialty assignments such as mountain bike officer, riot squad member, firearms instructor, defensive tactics instructor, and more.

Currently, I’m working in the private sector as a contractor for maritime security (specifically anti-piracy and counter-terror operations) off the Horn of Africa. I also do firearms and defensive tactics training, consultation, private investigations, and executive protection for Fortune 500 clientele, heads of state, and media personalities. I was the Firearms Training Director for a local firearms range for the last several years, and I also teach martial arts at a local karate school. (I’ve been a martial artist for 25 years and still really enjoy it.)

I met you wonderful folks at Undead Labs when you came in to our range to learn about guns, and now here I am!

What made you want to work as a law enforcement officer?

As cliche as it sounds, I wanted to do something about the violence in our communities. I was watching TV one Saturday morning and saw a news story about a woman that was kidnapped, horribly abused, and left for dead. She was paralyzed as a result of the attack. I thought to myself, “Things like this are going on out there and I’m sitting in here on the couch eating Corn Flakes doing nothing about it.” It bothered me so much that I went out that same day and bought several books on passing the law enforcement entrance exams. Then, I went to college to study criminal justice. Two years later, I was running with a narcotic detector dog and participating in middle-of-the-night raids on drug dealers, smugglers, and gun runners. From that point on, I was hooked.

What’s your favorite firearm?

Wow…that’s a tough question. It’s kind of like asking who your favorite kid is, especially since I’ve been collecting firearms for decades. All of my firearms have their own charms and I love them all, but if my house was on fire and I could only pick one weapon before jumping out the window, it would have to be my newest “baby” —  the FN SCAR16 with all the goodies on it.

I’d be really bothered about losing all the others, but at the end of the day, I really dig this monster. I mean seriously. Even Dracula got nuthin’ on my SCAR.

What’s the strangest or most unique weapon you’ve ever shot?

Strange and unique? One weapon stands out in my mind — the Grim Reaper’s Pit Bull, an MK 19, Mod 3 40MM belt fed grenade launcher. It’s a machine gun that hurls grenades out past 2000 yards at an approximate cyclic firing rate of +/- 350 grenades per minute. Fun fact: Each one of those little jewels digs a 15 foot crater on impact.

Nothing quite says “home defense” like a belt fed grenade launcher.

Why zombies? What do you like about them?

They get to me at a real, visceral level. When I was working on the street, I’d encounter all kinds of living people ACTING like zombies, whether it was caused by mental illness or chemically induced insanity. I’ve even seen people in such a degraded state due to their drug habits or other health conditions that they LOOKED like zombies.

I’ve also encountered large-scale riots like the WTO ones in Seattle. Imagine HUGE throngs of people — what felt like the entire city — coming after you in non-stop waves for five days, hurling everything from water bottles filled with urine to marbles and ball bearings. They were even rolling manhole covers down the hill. It was terrifying.

With the very real issues of our world, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine something like a zombie apocalypse actually happening. We look at zombie movies or games and know that they’re  just make believe, but deep down I think zombies are something we can all relate to and fear in some way. We don’t have to survive a riot to get the picture.

In the last year or so I’ve had some pretty intense conversations with captains of industry, celebrities, and regular folks about what they would do if “the zombies” came. These discussions are awesome because the topic is so engaging — especially if it inspires people to think about how they’d take care of themselves if there’s an emergency. Very frequently, these conversations segue into things like earthquake preparedness or civil disturbances. Just watch some of the videos out there and tell me it doesn’t look like something from a zombie movie — throngs of hungry, frazzled, angry people freaking out. Government thugs putting the smack down on helpless civilians. How many zombie apocalypses have aired on the nightly news in the last 15 years? I lost count.

So I guess the thing that makes the zombie genre appealing to me is that it has a certain amount of plausibility. Any one of us could become a zombie in the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Isn’t THAT a thought?

What’s your zombie-killing weapon of choice and why?

Well that’s another great question, but I can’t stop at just one!

I really like the utilitarian nature of tomahawks and kukris. Cold Steel is currently making a kukri blade on the end of an axe handle (no joke). This.might seem a little weird, but something like that would definitely take care of someone’s Excedrin headache…if you catch my drift. I love my SOG tactical tomahawks too,  so if I had to go all ninja-sneaky, I’d use one of those two weapons.

In close quarters, I’m a HUGE fan of the .45 ACP cartridge. And while I loves me my 1911′s, I’d want more rounds in the weapon than just 8 +1, so I’d be inclined to use a Springfield XD as a sidearm. The typical loadout with a 1911 would be 25 rounds, but my.XD gets me 40 rounds of crowd-pleasing forty five on my belt and in the weapon. Also, because the .45 is such a big, slow bullet, it’s among the best rounds to suppress. I guess a threaded barrel and a quality suppressor would also be on the menu.

From my own inventory, I would prefer to run my SCAR 16 (along with it’s AAC suppressor) and play whack-a-mole with the zeds from 300 to 500 yards out. (Yes folks. Marines QUALIFY in boot camp with .223′s at 500 yards…with IRON SIGHTS.)

Of course, I couldn’t run a can on it* and still get that kind of accuracy at distance —  the bullet has a lot to do with it. Personally, I prefer Hornady TAP hollowpoint rounds in 75 grain. Shooting those through wet phone books and paint cans filled with mud leaves cantaloupe-sized holes coming out of the test media…

That’s good to go.

For long distance dedications, again from my personal inventory, I’d have to go with my HK91 with the PSG-1 aftermarket goodies on it. With that weapon, I can hit targets at 800 yards with confidence, but I’d probably have to walk the rounds in a bit beyond that. The scope I have on it is SICK — you can see into the future with that thing. I call it the “Eye of Sauron.” No hobbits want to be in the eye. Evar.

Anyway, the .308 cartridge is my very favorite as an all-around heavy lifter. When that round grabs you, it’s got you, and the ballistics are really constant and easy to work with. That HK91 would be a great weapon as a perimeter or watch rifle, especially when it comes to reliability. The weapon platform is really over-engineered and I have NEVER had a malfunction in 15 years.

Did I come even come CLOSE to answering your question?

* “Running a can” is gun lingo for adding a silencer. -Emily

If you were facing a lone zed, what weapon would you use? What if you were up against a big horde? Would you want to use something different?

One zombie by itself? A tactical tomahawk or a kukri…. or that Filthy McNasty kukri on the axe handle dealio. (Ok, to be honest, I really just want to try that thing.)

I wouldn’t want to make excessive noise to draw out other zeds. I’ve seen the movies…you know there’s never…juuuuuust …one.

If I was up against a big horde of zombies? (cringe) Can I bring that automatic belt fed grenade launcher? If not, I’d go with my SCAR. It’s suppressed, so I would hope it wouldn’t attract ANOTHER horde. (Because that’s just a bad day at the office, ya know?) It’s also pinpoint accurate from 0 to 200 yards, and is just so adaptable I can do anything with it.

Well, almost. I would really like a bayonet on it, but they don’t make ‘em. It’s a Marine thing… I LIKE bayonets.

How did you meet Brant? What are you doing to advise him?

I met Brant when you guys came down to the range several months ago. He had some follow-up questions about different guns, and filled me in on what you were doing with your game. After your trip, he came back to the range a few times and I showed him several different “common” and exotic weapons. Then we got to talking about different dynamics of how bullets function, human anatomy when in close proximity to said bullets, and even different techniques of shooting different weapons. (Yes, it IS possible to accurately shoot Mozambiques, on the move one handed…if you do it right.)

We’ve spent many hours on the range firing different handguns, submachine guns (full auto, baby!), and rifles. We’ve also spent many more hours discussing things like tactical lights, lasers, optics, and everything under the sun when it comes to real firearms and the firearms you find in the gaming world.

Brant really wants to introduce some firearm realism, which is a breath of fresh air to me. The article you wrote after the company day at the range was VERY insightful and accurate! Shooting a real weapon is a very real, perishable skill, and.the people who have that skill are really something to see. Anybody that’s ever watched Jerry Miculek fire a revolver like a machine gun can see that.

So as Brant and I got to know each other, he came down and took a few of my classes and learned about the ancillary equipment too, like different holsters and slings and how to clear the weapon from them and still get shots on target quickly and efficiently. He also learned how to do reloads under stress without hurting himself or others, which is actually a pretty tough thing to do. During his training, Brant evolved from a good shot to a GREAT shot, even under under stress, which is cool. But then comes the task of how to translate this “real world” firearms handling into a gaming experience. As I’m learning, it’s not as easy as one might think.

While I’m not sure if any gun nuances will make it into the game, it IS something we’ve talked about a lot. I’ve been helping him try to vet the different kinds of weapons that would be realistically found in the gun lockers and closets of the average small town American, discuss their differences, and try to whittle down every bloody gun in the world into a list of things that can be realistically expected.

As an example, let’s look at that SCAR 16 of mine. I know maybe three people in all of Western Washington that own one. Since I worked at a gun range for three years, that says something about the availability of finding one of those, especially equipped with a suppressor and night vision. But what you WILL find are AR-15′s, hunting rifles, and shotguns everywhere. While my circle of friends is probably a lot different from most other people, nearly every guy (and even a few gals) I know own and operate an AR-15 variant of some kind.

As another example, I think I read somewhere that someone wanted a Dragunov in the game. That’s something you definitely won’t find in some farmer’s closet, and you probably wouldn’t find one at a typical gun store either. Never mind trying to get a hold of 7.62 X 54R ammunition — it’s as highly specialized as that SCAR of mine. (That’s not to say that exotics won’t find their way into the game of course, but they just won’t be easy to find.)

Does this level of details even matter in a video game? I’m not sure, but I do know that the Undead Labs team is putting a lot of effort into finding the right mix of the funky nuances that exist with guns and making sure the game is just plain fun.

Anyway, it’s been a lot of fun to be able to consult on a project like this because it’s unlike anything I’ve ever been involved with! Most of my family is like: “There goes Uncle Erik blabbing about the war again.” They don’t really want to hear it. Then along comes Brant, and he’s throwing me curve ball questions about guns that make me have to go back and read the technical manuals. I really DIG that!

What are you looking forward to the most in Class3?

Well, I’m starting to get on in the years, and watching my nephews play video games just feels like a constant kill/die/kill/die kind of deal. There are no tactics, no thought, and no finesse…it’s just runnin’ and gunnin’, which gets kinda boring and frustrating for me because when I play I actually do stuff like pie corners,  use cover and concealment, and daisy chain explosives together. They’re always like “Uncle Errriiiikkkk…. Just SHOOT him!”

Kids these days. Where’s the ambience?

I guess what makes video games fun for me is the ability to do things that I otherwise couldn’t, shouldn’t, or can’t do in real life. I’m such a geek about this stuff that I actually use movies and games and books as visualization for real world scenarios — I view them as opportunities to train and have fun.

As an “old guy” I really like story content, and I like open ended options with more than one way to approach things. I’m looking forward to Class3 because it’s going to give me a way to visualize a scenario that challenges me to think on my feet or react to something. I’m also looking forward to being able to interact with other survivors and solve problems. And, of course, I’m also excited about a good amount of running and gunning.

Of course, you fine folks don’t share all the game goodies with me, so I don’t fully know what to expect or what the story arcs will be about. The suspense is KILLING me, but that’s part of the fun!

What’s the best all-around zombie killing caliber and why?

There’s really no delicate way to say this — the way bullets work is that they make holes in bodies.

If we’re talking handguns, I’d want to use something that throws trash can lids at the bad guys, so I’d go with some kind of .45 (be it a 1911 or a Glock or a Thompson). These firearms are more likely to deliver because of their size, weight, and moderate velocity.

I think another gun that would open up a can of serious whup-a$$ is the KRISS Vector SMG. That thing hits all the high notes out to 100 yards — maybe farther in the right hands. But at typical handgun distance…yeeesh. That’s a wee bit too close for my tastes, and I would prefer to hit ‘em far enough away that the icky-sticky doesn’t get all over me. In Western Washington, a .223 of some kind would be just ducky (25 to 200 yards), but in Eastern Washington (where it’s more wide open), I’d prefer a .308 to keep the zeds well away from the perimeter. Preferably, I’d like to keep them out past 300 yards or so.

From a gunfighter’s perspective, the edge always goes to the bigger bullet, and I always want to stack the deck in my favor. A larger bullet is more likely to sever blood-carrying vessels and damage or destroy vital organs (many times, several of them). Then there’s velocity. The large bullet should be of sufficient velocity to, for example, penetrate the natural body armors of the skull and sternum. The downside of these kinds of bullets (like my crowd pleasing .45′s), are that they’re bigger and they take up more space, so you can’t carry as many as smaller caliber bullets. They’re also consequently heavy, so it’s a burden on the operator.

While I like the .40 and 10MM a lot, firing them suppressed and/or finding the bullets to feed them could be a problem. If sound and ammo resupply isn’t the big driver of what to use… the 9mm, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, 10MM and .45ACP’s would all work just great.

If I HAD to pick my personal favorite caliber, it would be the .45 ACP, just like in real life. Options like penetrating natural body armors, accuracy, low muzzle climb, the ability to easily suppress the noise, and plentiful ammunition to tear Mister Zeddie McNasty a new one makes the .45ACP my best “all around” zombie killing caliber.

Of course, we’re talking about the undead here. As a rule, you have to put one in the snot locker and blow out the back-side of his melon to give that zombie a permanent dirt nap. All you have to be able to do is penetrate the skull. In that aspect, virtually any bullet in modern defensive handguns will do the job, methinks.

What are your thoughts on handguns versus rifles?

A rifle is far more powerful than a pistol, but it takes two hands to use.That’s difficult if you’re trying to do things like grabbing or pushing people out of the way, opening doors, or even using a flashlight. Personally, I prefer handguns for clearing rooms and rifles for outdoor activities.

What are your thoughts on the importance of using different weapon types for different situations?

It’s all about the finding right tool for the job. I usually come down on the side of accuracy and heavy hitting firepower over other options, but as a Marine, I believe in the concept of “One Mind, Any Weapon.” I’ll fight by throwing an angry cat on your face if I have to.

Do you have any tips for people looking to try out shooting for the first time?

A lot depends on the state or country where people are from, of course. Here in Washington, we still have a bit of the frontier mentality, so gun ranges are plentiful, safe, and fun.

I’m a strong advocate for training. If you can’t find a local range, there are lots of awesome schools that provide weapons for rent. Thunder Ranch, Yavapai Firearms Academy, The Lethal Force Institute, Valhalla, and Gunsite are some of the big names. I’m a big fan of the Insights guys here locally. The NRA is also an excellent resource. You can say what you like about the politics or the organization, but at the end of the day, nobody does gun safety like them.

Thanks for chatting with us, Erik! It’s great to hear your thoughts on this stuff.

Any time! Thanks again for the chance to offer my two cents on the project. I’ve really enjoyed the chance to meet everyone and see this cool game come to life.

I hope you guys enjoyed learning more about Erik! We’re thrilled to have someone with his expertise giving us advice, and I’ll tell you what — if the shit ever goes down, I’m really hoping it happens on a day when he’s paying us a visit.

All of us here at the Lab would like to extend our sincere gratitude to every single current and former member of our armed forces. Happy Veteran’s Day, and thank you for your service.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Emily

PS: The images in this article are in no particular order, so if the guns don’t match with the stuff around them, you can blame me.

AUTHOR: Reid DATE RECORDED: November 04, 2011 AT 18:16PM

Years ago, my future mother-in-law was curious about what I did for a living and asked me a question about being a game animator, “So do you have to draw every frame?” I thought to myself, “Thank God I don’t have to create 30 drawings for every second of gameplay.”

How could I explain it all? Sometimes what I do is technical, like when you adjust the weighting on a rig so moving a character’s wrist doesn’t make his shoulder flex in a weird way. Other times, it’s a form of acting, creating personality and mood with a stance or a movement. Often, it’s simply about getting the motion right, adjusting how a foot eases into or out of a pose, or showing kinetic energy transferring from one part of the body to another.

Working on a game, you use the same techniques as movie animators, but you often have extreme timing and movement restrictions to fit game balance requirements, and you rarely get to build an animation with just one camera shot in mind. You try to make things look great from every angle. It’s challenging, but when it all comes together, you take a beautiful, static model created by the art team and make people see it as a living, breathing being.

This is what I do.

As a kid, I always liked to draw, but the thing that really inspired me was animation. I would watch Looney Tunes and Disney classics no matter how many times I had seen them before. I loved old Ray Harryhausen movies like Jason and the Argonauts from 1963, and all of his Sinbad movies. Early on, I knew I wanted to be an animator.

As I got into my late teens, though, I learned that opportunities for animation schooling and jobs were few and far between. So when it came time to go to college, I looked for something more practical. A year of drawing bolts and geodesic dome houses taught me that architectural and mechanical drafting was not my true calling. I moved to graphic design next — first at the University of Washington, then transferring to Cornish College of the Arts to finish my BFA. It was interesting, but not inspiring.

Then I got lucky. In 1989, the last semester of my senior year, Cornish added a brand-new class to its curriculum: computer graphics. It probably sounds funny now, but back then things like PageMaker, Freehand, and Macromind Director were cutting edge. These weren’t just new pieces of software; they were entirely new ways to do things. Having access to Director let me try my hand at animation — I still remember that first experience of putting together a series of images and making it come to life.

That was my way into the field. In 1991, a buddy at Microsoft was looking for someone who knew Director to create animations for a new application called Cinemania. I didn’t know how to animate very well yet, and I barely knew the software, but I was in the right place at the right time. I knew this was the chance to do what I’d always wanted, and I wasn’t going to let it slip away.

Over the next few years, I used every free moment to get better and looked for learning opportunities wherever I could. Through a friend at work, I managed to get after-hours access to an expensive SGI computer running Softimage, a high end 3D program. I stayed late every night and taught myself how to model and animate in 3D.

My timing couldn’t have been better, because a game development boom was just starting in Seattle. I felt like I’d landed my dream job when I went to a little studio called Sucker Punch, where I got the chance to animate all of Sly Cooper’s moves in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus. Up until then I had only done small pieces of character animation, so this was the first time I was ever responsible for fully animating a character — especially a cartoony one with a personality like Sly.

During my time at Sucker Punch, I learned a ton about how animation affects the responsiveness of a character in a game. Animators are trained to have the character anticipate action, but in games, anticipation tends to go out the window in favor of getting the immediate response players expect when they press that button on their controller. With little to no anticipation, you start to learn little tricks that help sell the animation and direct the viewer’s eye.

Until this point in my career, I’d been primarily animating characters by hand. I didn’t have much experience with motion capture (mocap) animation, but this changed when I started working on MAG. While I was responsible for hand keying all of the first person and weapon animations, I also helped direct mocap shoots and modify the mocap data to match the game’s animation style. This experience helped me with my work on SOCOM4, where I was responsible for not only hand keyed character, vehicle, and cinematic animations, but also for character mocap.

I first found out about Undead Labs from my friend and old co-worker, Steve. When I learned that he and two of my other old colleagues, Foge and Shaun, were there too, I knew I had to be a part of the team.

I think that third-person action games are the most fun and challenging to work on as an animator because they really let you put a lot of personality into the characters. Animating combat is also one of my favorite things, and zombie combat is especially appealing to me because you gotta animate over the top!

It seemed like the Lab had everything I could want in a company and a project, and I feel very fortunate to be here.

Class3 presents a great opportunity to do things in animation and in games that I’ve never done before. At this point, I have been animating for games for nearly 20 years, but I’m still hungry to learn new things. As an animator, you can always improve — you’re always learning and there’s always more to learn.

I look forward to the challenge.

Reid

(Emily’s note: If you just can’t get enough Reid and would like to know more about him, be sure to check out Jeff’s introduction.)

AUTHOR: Jeff DATE RECORDED: November 04, 2011 AT 18:10PM

Earlier this year we posted an open position for a talented animator to join Team Zed. A few short weeks later, we deleted it. Since it was rare for us to post a position on our website in the first place — most of us at the Lab have been working together for years — we immediately received questions about why we had removed the job post.

Simple: Reid Johnson had found us, and we’d found Reid Johnson.

Reid is a talented industry veteran who has been animating top-tier video games for more than a decade. Reid is most well-known as the animator responsible for animating Sly Cooper in Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper and the Theivius Raccoonus, for which he won a “Best Animation” award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Before joining us at the Lab, Reid was at Zipper Interactive for six years creating the more realistic animation for the SOCOM and MAG franchises

Creating  motion-captured — or “mocap” — human animation for military shooters like SOCOM and MAG is one thing, but Reid made a freaking raccoon look fluid, graceful, and full of larcenous intention. And he did it all by hand. Turns out, they don’t make mocap suits for raccoons. They do make mocap suits for zombies — and we’ll be putting them to good use in Class3 — but Reid’s got the talent to inject that just-over-the-top coolness you get from hand-built key-framed animation, so we’ll get the best of both worlds.

I can’t wait to see what he can do with a zed horde, a desperate survivor, a lead pipe, and a proper dismemberment system.

One final note: Reid is the coolest character I’ve ever met. I don’t mean cool like celebrity-snowboard-god cool, or hipster-coffee-snob cool, either. I mean cool as in, well, chill. I just don’t think the guy can be rattled, stressed out, or even surprised. He just exudes a sense of “Relax people, I got this shit.”

When Z-Day comes, I’m with Reid.

Jeff

P.S. Don’t forget to check out Reids’s welcome to his fellow survivors!

AUTHOR: Emily DATE RECORDED: October 28, 2011 AT 17:57PM

Halloween is finally here and, as you can probably guess, it’s our favorite holiday! People cruising around in sweet costumes, horror movie marathons on TV, carving pumpkins, stocking up on copious amounts of candy (mmm…peanut butter cups)…

Best time of year? Yeah, pretty much.

While we can’t be there to give you a hand with the zombie makeup you should be rocking this weekend, Doug did whip up a new wallpaper to help you get in the spirit. Check it out!

Emily

PS: If you end up dressing up like a zombie this weekend, we’d love to see your costume! Post a comment and show us what you came up with.

AUTHOR: Emily DATE RECORDED: October 21, 2011 AT 17:03PM

Last week, we posted a new design article from Phinney that provided an in-game survivor’s take on what it takes to stay alive in the world of Class3. This week, we’ll answer a bunch of questions that you guys have asked on our website and on fan forums.

Read on to see the topics we’ve covered!

Shawn of the Dead from our website asks: “Phinney mentions that these ideas are the heart of Class 3. Can we expect the same from Class 4?”

Absolutely! In fact, we’ll be expanding on them for Class4, adding more diverse locations, vehicles, weapons, and survival options.

Jakesawesome  from our website asks: “In a real zombie apocalypse there are no health bars, damage meters, or levels. Will there be any in Class3?”

Yes and no. You’ll have a health bar so you won’t have to guess how much health you have, but zombies won’t. While we could have opted to have no health bar for you too, we wanted to emphasize the survival aspect of the game by having the damage you take stick with you until you can heal up. A health bar is a really clear way to show that and to give you clear choices to make about when to retreat or when to heal yourself.

As far as zombies go, the only way to kill one is to take out its head, so they’re not going to lose health from other damage — you’ll either kill them or you won’t. Of course, you can dismember them to give yourself an advantage, too.

Several folks from our website ask: “Is there a fatigue/stamina system that ties into inventory weight and the possibility of becoming encumbered? Does this system apply to weapons, too?”

Yes. Like in a real survival situation, weight matters. If you’re carrying too much stuff, you’re going to get tired much faster than if you’re traveling light. It’s up to you to decide what balance you’ll want to maintain.

The size of the weapon you choose to carry makes a difference, too. Larger guns are definitely heavier, so you’ll want to be strategic about selecting your equipment, making sure that what you’ve equipped fits the situation you’re heading into.

Rob from our website asks: “How deep are the characters you rescue along the way? If they die, are you balling your eyes out in front of the screen yelling, ‘Why didn’t you take me!’ or are you more upset that you lost a gun and some armor?”

One of our goals is to have a deep storyline and rich setting, so it’s quite possible that you’ll get attached to characters you meet. It probably depends on how sentimental you are.

Reidlos Dog from our website asks: “You talk about duct taping a structure together because hammering is loud. Does this mean that building structures will make noise and attract zombies?”

Fortifying an area is noisy business. You don’t have to try to set up a stronghold, but if you do, you should expect that zombies will find you, so do a good job setting up your defenses.

GhostMARINE from our website asks: “Are you hinting at being able to use different materials in creating structures? And if so, would we be able to use substandard material at the benefit of less noise in the construction, but at the cost of functionality/durability?”

Not exactly. The line about duct tape was mostly there for comedic effect. We don’t currently have any options for building fortifications with substandard materials, and we weren’t planning to add any. On the other hand, having people around who know something about construction is something the game takes into account.

Construction is an important part of the game, but we’ve tried not to keep the mechanics straightforward. So building structures will require resources, but as we’ve mentioned in one of our previous Q&As, we’re not making a Minecraft-style game. There will be a lot of options, but it won’t be 100% free-form.

We’ll be covering more details about how building things will work in a future design article, so keep an eye out for that.

Sean from our website asks: “Is there some kind of respawn system that causes you to wake up at your shelter when you are ‘overwhelmed’ by zombies?”

Yes. If you’re defeated by zombies, you have a chance of being “rescued” and waking up somewhere safe. Since zombification isn’t an instant thing, they’ll take you back to a safe place to allow you to regroup before you go out into the world again.

As Phinney implied in the article, though, you wouldn’t want to keep putting this to test over and over. They won’t always get to you in time.

Rob from our website asks: “Will other human settlements start to pop up in Class3?”

Zombies definitely outnumber living people, but you’re not the only survivor of the outbreak. As you explore the world, you’ll probably run across other characters who are trying to make it, too. For example, folks like the Wilson brothers, who our author mentions in his journal.

I’m a Zombie. Rawr! from our website asks: “If you die and become zombified, can you control a zombie version of yourself?”  

“We’ve seen how they act, more instinct than thought. And we’ve all seen that look. We’ve seen it in their eyes. Just hatred and hunger. Not one ounce of humanity left. Better that way anyway. It’s not your friend. It’s just a shell.”

As our author observes, zombies are husks — soulless shadows of people that used to be alive. They’re no longer human, and retain no characteristics that would make them controllable.

Lucien from our website asks: “How complex will NPC AI be? Will you need to order them around, or will they act intelligently on their own?”

We’re making an action game, so we don’t think it’s acceptable for you to have to issue orders in order to play the game. Our goal is to build NPCs that behave in the ways that you’d expect them to.

ShoelaceManiac from our website asks: “Will meeting other survivors be random, or will they be scripted story moments like car crashes?”

We plan to tell a story, and developing a wide variety of interesting characters is a big part of that. Like you’d expect in a real apocalypse, the ways you meet people will vary.

Ragnaroktheevil from our website asks: “Will there be specializations for the survivors? You mention a doctor, so can a player BE a doctor, an engineer, soldier etc.?”

Yes — proficiency with different skills will definitely be an important aspect of the game. We’ll be giving more details about how this will work in a future design article about characters.

ShoelaceManiac from our website asks: “Is there a delay between a person’s death and their resurrection as a zombie?”

That’s for you to find out.

And there you have it! Thanks for all of your questions and comments about Phinney’s most recent post. If your question wasn’t answered, don’t worry — we probably have a design article coming that’s going to cover your topic. Over the next few months, you’ll be hearing more from us about stuff like base building, characters, and everyone’s favorite topic: guns.

Even though we’re done with Q&As for now, keep sharing your thoughts, opinions, and questions with us! We may not be able to respond to everyone, but we do read every comment that’s posted. Hearing what you guys think is really helpful.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Emily

PS: If any of you Seattle natives are headed to ZomBcon this weekend, I’ll be there too. If you see me, say hey!

AUTHOR: Emily DATE RECORDED: October 20, 2011 AT 11:51AM

‘Class3’ has gone into production, and that means that we’re going to need a ton of art to fully flesh out the world. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with the talented team at  FUTUREPOLY Studios for our art production needs.

Headed up by Jason Stokes and Levi Hopkins, two of our good friends and former colleagues, the FUTUREPOLY Studios crew will be working side-by-side with our artists to create all of the visual details that we’ll need to bring Class3 to life.

Read on for more details!

Veteran Game Industry Artists to Help Realize ‘Faded Americana’ Setting of Zombie-Survival Game

SEATTLE – 20 October 2011 – Undead Labs, developer of online world games for console gamers, announced today that it had selected FUTUREPOLY Studios to provide art production services for its original zombie-survival franchise codenamed ‘Class3‘. Located in Seattle, Washington, FUTUREPOLY Studios is the game-production division of FUTUREPOLY, a digital-art school focusing on advanced training for professional video-game artists.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with our friends and long-time colleagues at FUTUREPOLY on Class3,” said Jeff Strain, founder of Undead Labs. “Many of the Team Zed artists have worked with the founders and principal instructors at FUTUREPOLY for close to a decade, and these guys are among the most talented and experienced artists in the business. They’ll also be bringing their elite students onto the project, so we get a team of great artists, and they get the chance to work with a veteran development team on a kickass zombie-survival game.”

Led by well-known game industry artists Jason Stokes and Levi Hopkins, FUTUREPOLY Studios will be working closely with Undead Labs Art Director Doug Williams to realize the beautiful post-apocalyptic world of Class3. Defining an artistic style Doug describes as ‘Faded Americana,’ Class3 avoids traditional urban and exotic game settings, and instead returns players to the heart of the zombie-surivival genre: small-town America.

“FUTUREPOLY has enjoyed great success with its core mission of offering video-game-art development courses taught by experienced industry professionals,” said Jason Stokes, founder of FUTUREPOLY. “Our instructors are some of the best known and most highly regarded game artists in the industry, and our students are universally talented game artists looking for the edge they need to be even better. With the launch of FUTUREPOLY Studios, we’re bringing that talent and experience together to offer superior game-art production services, and we can’t think of a better inaugural project than the ambitious zombie-survival franchise under development at Undead Labs.”

About Undead Labs

Undead Labs is a game development studio dedicated to creating a new class of online world games for console gamers. Founded in 2009 by MMO industry veteran Jeff Strain, Undead Labs is a creative studio built around the most talented—and zombie loving—developers in the industry. Based in Seattle, Washington, the studio’s singular focus is creating the definitive zombie-survival franchise for console gamers. The company’s inaugural game, currently in development, is an open world zombie-survival game for Xbox LIVE Arcade, published by Microsoft Studios. For more information, visit undeadlabs.com.

About FUTUREPOLY

FUTUREPOLY is a digital arts training studio specifically geared toward video game development. Sharing decades of professional experience, instructors offer a focused curriculum with an emphasis on real-world workflow solutions. FUTUREPOLY Studios is the game-production division of FUTUREPOLY, bringing together experienced industry game artists and selected students to provide game-art production services for top-tier video-games. For more information, visit futurepoly.com.

# # #

CONTACT:

Jeff Strain (for Undead Labs)
contact@undeadlabs.com
Jason Stokes (for FUTUREPOLY)
jason@futurepoly.com

Some information relates to pre-released product which may be substantially modified before it’s commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.
Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
Undead Labs and the Undead Labs logo are trademarks of Undead Labs, LLC.
FUTUREPOLY, FUTUREPOLY Studios, and the FUTUREPOLY logo are trademarks of FUTUREPOLY, LLC.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

AUTHOR: Phinney DATE RECORDED: October 14, 2011 AT 19:39PM

Day 17

Reckon I can’t think of a more bullshit situation. And that’s a fact. When one of us dies, we come back as one of them. Our loss is their gain. Randy thinks the bites do it. He figures it’s something in the saliva or bodily fluids or some such thing. It’s hard to say. These days, ain’t like it’s easy to find someone who hasn’t been scratched or bitten at some point.

Shay’s got another theory. Says maybe we were all infected already. I don’t know if that scares me or not. Maybe that means we can find a cure. Maybe it means we’re all fucked. I just know this: so far, every one of my friends who’s died has come back.

The first time we had to put down someone we knew, I almost couldn’t do it. But then it went after Shay, and I just reacted. Later, my buddy Chuck asked the question we were all thinking: When these people die and get back up, are they still themselves? Deep inside, can they still think or feel? Do they have any choice? And did we?

But experience has answered that one, time and time again. We’ve seen how they act, more instinct than thought. And we’ve all seen that look. We’ve seen it in their eyes. Just hatred and hunger. Not one ounce of humanity left. Better that way anyway. It’s not your friend. It’s just a shell. It’s just a shell.

Day 18

Put more of the bastards down today. It’s crazy to think about how much things have changed. I still remember the day we started calling them zombies. Sounded fake at first. Like something out of a fucking horror movie, but what else would you call them? You see a man die — stone cold dead — and then get up and walk. And there ain’t no way to put one down but remove its head or destroy its brains. Wasn’t too long before we got real comfortable with the term.

They say the first one’s always the worst, and I’m sure as hell not going to argue. I pumped ten bullets to the torso of that fucking waitress and she just kept coming. Took a bullet to the brain to finally drop her. Lucky for me, she was one of the slow ones. If she wasn’t, who knows? I’d probably be shambling around with the rest of them.

Day 19

Everybody knows Randy’s the best shot, but he’s getting cocky. Today, he used that big ole Remlinger 700 to shoot a leg and an arm off of one. I swear he was aiming for the extremities just outta sport. The thing goes down, of course, but keeps on crawling. Never seen one deterred by pain, and that’s a fact. Well, Randy walks right up to it and caves in its skull. Stomp, stomp with his boot heel.

Reckless son of a bitch if you ask me, but he’s a sure shot, and I know we’re lucky he joined us. Just need to find a way to put his sharpshooting abilities to more reliable use.

Day 20

Can’t take nothing for granted. Tried to build a kind of guard tower for Randy out of oil drums and two-by-fours. Damn thing tumbled and nearly cracked open my skull.

Soon as Chuck and I have our talk about why duct tape is not a substitute for a 3¼ inch nail — even if it is “abundantly quieter than all that hammering” — we’re gonna hit the veterinary clinic. Shay’s right that we lucked out this time, and our old collection of first aid kits is running a bit on the thin side these days. We need to secure a more comprehensive inventory of medications and medical supplies in case we’re not so lucky next time.

Day 21

Bad fucking day today. Bad fucking day.

Day 22

I don’t know if Chuck’s gonna make it. He’s starting to have that look. I do know I don’t want to be the one to do it…if it comes down to the mercy shot.

We try to look out for each other. Usually, when someone goes down, we’re able to drag ‘em to safety. Had some pretty impressive escapes a time or two, even when someone started off on their own, we got there in time. You might lose some of the stuff you were carrying and be outta commission for a bit, but it’s better than the alternative.

Hell, I’m pretty careful, but everyone screws up on occasion. A time or two, I’ve turned a corner while bringing home a duffel of soup cans or some such thing and found myself face-to-face with a whole horde of zombies. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the infirmary or over with the Wilson boys…back when they were still among the living and breathing.

Can’t push your luck though. How many times can you count on getting rescued in a situation like that? Not many, I reckon.

Because of some of the scrapes we’ve survived, people sometimes look at me and Chuck like we’re invincible, but we know better. Fact of the matter is there’s nothing magical or special about either of us. Every day we stare down death, and every day we face the risk of extermination. There’s no Ctrl-Z or reload to save us.  And once you’re dead, you’re one of them. There’s nothing you can do to control it or fight it. It’s a done deal. The best you can hope for is that your friends carry on in your memory.

Well, don’t count on it, Chuck. I’ll be damned if I’m ready to make any memorials for you. You got no choice. You have to pull through. You have to.

Day 23

Fever and chills for Chuck today. He has the glazed over look in his eyes that we’ve all seen before. Shay asked me what happened out there. Always treating everything like it’s a puzzle that can be solved, that girl.

I told her we took our precautions. We’ve been carrying food and medicine with us on our scavenging runs, like she insisted. Give yourself a burst of energy or heal up a wound and help you keep going. It can help you out of jam, but you have to think about weight. Sure, we could have taken more with us, but the weight is a killer. She knows that. The more you carry, the faster you wear out.

She wanted details, but what was there to say? We got tired, but those bastards never slow down, and they never get tired. Ain’t too hard to ward off a single swipe or attempted bite from a zombie, but when you’re exhausted, when you get surrounded, you can’t…you can’t keep your feet. They tug at you, drag you down.

What could I tell her?  Chuck got all tore up. I helped him to his feet, but there were so many… he was taken down again. We were lucky to get him back home in one piece.

I couldn’t really finish the story. We looked in on Chuck together. Saw the same thing. He might not make it. I didn’t say anything, but she leaned in and real quiet like said, “I’ll do it. If it needs to be done.” Don’t know where she gets the strength.

Day 25

Hell of a day yesterday. Randy says that karma is on our side. Wouldn’t have taken him for a buddhist or hindu or whatever that is.

A car wrecks half a block from our little stronghold — I can call it that now that the guard tower is stable — and the commotion brings a mess of zombies. The driver’s still alive, but Shay doesn’t think that trying to get to him is worth the risk. “He’ll be one of them by the time we get there,” she says.

Randy ignores her and looks to me to make the call. “I’ll go,” he offers, plain as that.

“Just cover me, asshole,” I answer and head out to get him. To her credit, Shay comes with.

The repeated report of Randy’s Remlinger behind us has the simultaneous effect of thinning the zombie numbers ahead of us and drawing some away from the car. The fuckers do have a spiteful attraction to loud noises.

The driver’s still alive when we get there, and we learn, once he’s safely back home with us, that he’s a doctor, an actual licensed MD. He’d been holed up at the church with a few others but when things turned to shit, he grabbed a car and tried to get the hell outta dodge.

Hope to God he’s a better doctor than he is a driver.

Day 26

The good doctor shows his gratitude by tending to Chuck. Popping a Tylenol is about as much as I know about medicine, so I can’t say exactly what the doc did. All I know is that whatever it was helped Chuck turn the corner. This morning, he was even up and moving around a little.

Doc says Chuck’ll be kind of low energy for the next day or so, but the talk of a mercy shot is behind us. The doctor’s still got a busted up leg from the wreck, so he won’t be able to join us on supply runs for a while. That’s okay by me. I think we might prefer to keep him safe and sound at home anyway. He can still treat people with a bad wheel, and that’s what matters.

Maybe Randy’s right. Karma’s on our side. Think I might head to the church tomorrow, see if anyone else made it and needs our help. We’ve been treading water too damn long. It’s time to start trying to build something.

This is the heart of Class3. It’s a game that’s not just about fighting zombies — it’s focused on the dangers and struggles of post-apocalyptic survival. To us, this means making your choices matter. It means giving you freedom with consequences, and sometimes those consequences are harsh: your community can be wiped out, and all characters (including yours) are at risk of permanent death.

This is a risky design choice and one that could easily lead to a game that’s only for the most hardcore players, but that’s not our goal. We are always guided by two words: fun first. That’s why getting overwhelmed in a single fight won’t instantly get you zombified. It’s also why you’ll get clear warning signs if a character is close to succumbing, and why there are ways to build on your legacy if someone doesn’t make it.

As development moves forward, we’ll continue to test, tweak, and balance a lot of these mechanics, but our guiding principles have never changed.

For a lot of you, I know this article will only whet your appetite for more information. (That’s good, right?) While I’m sticking to my guns about not giving everything away before the game is even out, I’m sure there are a lot of questions we can answer right now. If you’ve got one, hit reply, and fire away.

We’ll do a follow-up Q&A article next week.

Phinney

AUTHOR: Emily DATE RECORDED: October 07, 2011 AT 18:02PM

It’s been a while since we’ve shown off new fan art, so we’ll be wrapping up this week with a bunch of awesome pieces you’ve sent us since our last update. In this latest batch, we’ve got sketches, paintings, and even an awesome zombie puppet to show off!

Read on to check them out and to learn how you can send in creations of your own.

Fan art by Luke the Duke

Fan art by Awesomedude360

Fan art by Bryan Crisostomo

Fan art by Fidel Salazar “Fideon”

Fan art by Dale Raymond Lerette

Fan art by Luke the Duke

Zombie puppet by Suburban Freak

Thanks to Luke, Awesomedude, Bryan, Fideon, Dale, and Suburban Freak for sending these our way. Keep them coming, guys — we really love getting fan art!

If you’re a creative type that loves to make zombie-related pieces, we’d love to see what you come up with! Go ahead and post a link to your art here, or send it to fanart@undeadlabs.com. If you’d like your work to appear in a future website post and our Facebook fan art gallery, make sure you provide me with an email address where I can reach you.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Emily