Undead Labs

We’re out on both Steam and XBLA all over the world. We hope you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed designing and building it. We kept your thoughts and feedback in mind at all times, as you’ll see in every detail from making Shark Hoodie Guy into a playable Hero, to the fact that some of you thought cars made the game too easy (there’s a level JUST FOR YOU). There are the usual community easter eggs (hint: Shark Hoodie Guy can appear with one of several randomized names, and we brought the actress who voiced Lily back to the studio for…a few new lines).

We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to write a review. (The still-being-updated list is here.) I’m not going to lie, this was a really challenging time to launch an expansion. All we have is the support of the community, and you know, that’s all we need! Thanks for your support and encouragement.

We’ve already started on DLC2, and I think you’re going to love it.

I’m seeing lots of questions, so this is just a quick post to let you know what I know about the schedule.

XBLA: So, 10 AM PST (1 PM EST/6 PM GMT), our TU4 will go live. (The notes are here, if you’d like to peruse them.) Because the TU is necessary in order to make Breakdown work, it will need to spread across the servers all over the world. This will take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. When it is done, the DLC will become available. I can’t control the time your particular town will get access, and if the launch in June is any indication, you will be the ones telling me that it’s live!

Steam: We first need to put a small patch live. We’ve been working on it all day today. Good times. At some point tomorrow morning, someone at Valve will flip the switch and Breakdown will be available. If I get a time estimate between now and tomorrow morning, I’ll update this post.

If you could tweet your location and platform to me @undeadlabs when you’re looking at Breakdown’s title screen, that would be awesome. Or in the Facebook thread I post on the topic – and just a reminder, the ONLY official page on Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/undeadlabs. If Breakdown has been successfully downloaded, the original title screen will change to have logos for both State of Decay, and State of Decay: Breakdown.

See you tomorrow

Thanks to everyone who slaved over a hot keyboard to get these reviews, previews, and playthroughs out today!

We are launching Breakdown (and the free TU4) on Friday, November 29th, all over the world. We’ll be on both Steam and XBLA. The price is $6.99, and that should convert automatically into your own local currency. For those of you making up your mind on what you’re doing on Friday, and don’t mind potential spoilers, I hope this information is helpful. There won’t be any ads to entice you, no hype campaign to get you riled up. This DLC is going to stand or fall entirely on how interested you are (and whether you think it’s good enough to tell your friends about it).

Keep an eye on the forums and our social media channels for fun contests and general shenanigans to celebrate the launch of Breakdown.

See you Friday, I hope

In no particular order, and many more to come:

Maka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4Ny59dRBhg

Stedal1978: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ijg3cbuDCo

Rebelgamer.de http://www.rebelgamer.de/2013/11/state-decay-breakdown-im-test-endlich-kommt-der-endlosmodus/25780

Game Over Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgnaRNMpXHY&feature=youtu.be

The Sparrow’s Journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dWxeGRy6gc

Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/review/state-of-decay-breakdown-adds-a-sandbox-to-the-undead-playground

6aming: http://www.6aming.com/review/state-decay-breakdown-review/

Jump To Gamer: http://www.jumptogamer.com/reviews/state-decay-breakdown-review/

Review Mango: http://www.reviewmango.com/2013/11/27/state-of-decay-breakdown-dlc-review/

GamerPET: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toRo6ai35CE

Tecnoslave: http://tecnoslave.com/analisis-state-of-decay-breakdown-dlc/

Front Toward Gamer: http://fronttowardsgamer.com/2013/11/27/state-of-decay-breakdown-dlc-review-pc/

IGR: http://www.igameresponsibly.com/2013/11/27/state-of-decay-breakdown-pc-video-review/

Rize Up Gaming: http://rizeupgaming.com/state-of-decay-breakdown-dlc/

Chaotic Good: http://chaoticgood.co.uk/post/2013/11/27/State-of-Decay-Breakdown.aspx

Subspace Reviews: http://www.subspacereviews.com/2013/11/state-of-decay-breakdown-review.html

Quarter To Three: http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/11/23/breakdown-dlc-state-decay-unscripted-except/

We are excited to announce the release date for our first DLC! It will be on both XBLA and Steam on Friday, November 29th, and cost $6.99.

Our first expansion comes largely from you and your dreams. Less story, more survival. Long-term survival. More difficulty. New achievements, survivors, and weapons. We hope you have as much fun with it as we have.

Haven’t been following the design process? That’s okay. These five links will catch you right up:

http://undeadlabs.com/2013/07/news/enter-sandbox/
http://undeadlabs.com/2013/08/news/thats-so-meta/
http://undeadlabs.com/2013/10/news/die-hard-fans/
http://forums.undeadlabs.com/showthread.php?35342-Die-Hard-Fans-Followup-Q-amp-A-10-10-13
http://www.twitch.tv/microsoftstudios/b/472522872

By the way, Title Update 4 hits the game on the same day, with bug fixes and goodies like the new loot distribution system. Steam players, your fully remappable keybind feature will hit a few days before that. I’ll have notes for all of that next week.

Keep your eyes on our forum, our Facebook (www.facebook.com/undeadlabs) and our Twitter (@undeadlabs) as we celebrate the impending launch with contests and general shenanigans. And tell your friends!

We’re officially out of Early Access*! The keyboard and mouse interface is live. Thanks for all the feedback, the bug reports, the save files, the DXDIAGs, and more, Early Access players.  You rock. Your technical chops and thoughtful feedback made an enormous difference.

But today’s build is not the last word for State of Decay on Steam. Those of you who’ve been with us since our launch on XBLA know we don’t ever just call it a day. We’ve already got the next patch planned out (and scheduled for a few weeks from now). It will include full key remapping, changes to mouse acceleration, and more.

As I said on the Steam forum for State of Decay: Thanks for riding along with us this far. I hope you stay on board, because this train’s not stopping.

Oh, and if you think the game is too easy, PC players… I think you’ll enjoy State of Decay: Breakdown. Everyone, PC and Xbox, will see it at the same time. Stay tuned.

*Special note to reviewers sitting on videos and articles: The embargo is lifted. I can’t wait to see what you thought!

That’s right, we’re heading into the homestretch. Of course, we’ll continue to make improvements, but we’re just about ready to call State of Decay launched on Steam. The official opening day will be Tuesday, November 5.

We’re going to do some serious celebrating on Tuesday. Prizes and contests and more, oh my!

In the meantime, if you are one of our adored Early Access players, there is a request list thread in both the official forum and the Steam forum. We sure appreciate the help!

Our next live stream will be Thursday, October 31st, because you cannot make a zombie game and NOT stream on Halloween. It’s a rule. We’ll hand out a couple Breakdown codes…well, IOU’s for codes…to celebrate the arrival of the Great Pumpkin.

Please join us at http://www.twitch.tv/xboxlivearcade at 11:00 AM PDT/2:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM London/20:00 CEST. Geoffrey will be there, ruling the channel with an iron fist, a cheerful smile, and possibly some high-pitched squealing when he gets overtaken by twelve bloaters and a feral.

Would you like to increase your odds of winning a code during the stream? Enter the costume contest, and follow the special directions for our Twitch friends. (Please note that pictures will be reposted to Facebook.)

See you Thursday!

Will the stars align? Between office moves, crossed wires, lost wires, patching madness, and more, we’ve missed you regular Twitchers. Here’s hoping it happens today. We’ve been sitting on an essentially complete build of Breakdown, and we’re dying to show it to you.

Tune in to the XBLA channel: http://www.twitch.tv/xboxlivearcade) at 11:00 AM PDT/2:00 PM EDT/20:00 CEST to check out our first DLC courtesy of Brant, Geoffrey, and lurking in the text channel, me.

We are excited to announce that we’ve just dropped a big patch onto Steam for our Early Access PC version. It’s chock full of awesome – major improvements to the interface, including mouse aiming. And that resolution support you asked for. And bug fixes. And a loot distribution thing. And… go read the notes.

And then come back here and check out the annotated screenshot tour of the interface.

Now play the hell out of it, PC people, because we want to patch it again next week with the stuff we learn from your feedback. TALLYHO!

Please read the entire Jobs page, and its links, before diving for your resumè and your email. I don’t want to get all mushy or anything, but joining the Lab means becoming part of something incredible, a real team in every sense of the word. We’re in this for the long haul, together, and when it comes to new colleagues, we’re looking for both talent and temperament.

You can get a great sense of us, our sense of humor, and how we roll by carefully reading the descriptions. None of these are entry level positions.

Here are the four openings:

Animator. There are ten things we’re looking for. How many of them describe you?

Producer. “Undead Labs is built around a culture of pragmatism and strong production values, which allows us to build a smaller, elite team of veteran developers and take advantage of the high-caliber art and technology resources available around the world. But operating that way requires skilled and knowledgeable producers, and that’s where you come in.”

Programmer. A lot of programmer job descriptions say the company is looking for the best. We’re looking for people who can be the best at things no one’s ever done before.

Designer. High confidence, low ego, positive attitude, proven design skills, and a hardcore State of Decay player? Call us.

All right. Ready? Here we go: http://undeadlabs.com/jobs/

I wish all of you who apply the best of luck. Being here is a dream come true.