Alan Diekfuss

Jan 19 2016

Developer Bio: Ben Scott

We can’t talk about what we’re doing, so we’re talking about the people doing the work. Ben is smart, funny, and friendly. He’s always one of the first to extend a welcoming helping hand to new people. Speaking of help, he was once my “man on the ground” and partner in crime when it came to delivering a singing telegram to our office manager…but I digress. He wouldn’t tell you about that. He won’t tell you about all the times he’s helped people or of the wonderful things he’s done and does every day, because that’s not how he rolls. In fact, he’s left a pretty major thing off of his bio here: He’s our Technical Director. Meet Ben. — Sanya

Father of Invention

by Ben Scott

I’ve always been addicted to games.

My love began when I was 5 and my parents got me a NES for Christmas. I was immediately in love, staying up hours to try to beat a game because, you know, save games are a crutch the kids of today don’t even know they are using. That love quickly turned dark, leading to dependence and loss, culminating when I angrily tossed my baby sister across the room because she happened to toddle between me and the TV. Thus began a dark period in my life whereby I was banned by my parents from playing video games for no less than five years.

I showed them by making video games my life. 😀

Aug 28 2015

The Sun Sets on Moonrise

Hello Moonrise fans,

As you know, Moonrise has been in beta on Steam in the Early Access channel for the past few months. At the same time, the iOS version of the game has been available in limited release, in countries including Australia and Canada. During this beta period we’ve been gathering data on how people play the game. The free-to-play model, and the mobile market, are new territory for Undead Labs, so we’ve been paying close attention to these numbers to make sure we’re making a game people are excited to play, and also a game that we can operate profitably and sustainably with the level of support you expect.

What we’ve found is that while some people really love Moonrise, there were unfortunately many more people who played the game and then moved on after a few days. For a standalone, offline game that might be fine; but for an online game with significant server hosting costs and an expectation for ongoing development and new content, it can mean a game that not only doesn’t pay for it’s development costs, but might even cost money to operate. As you can imagine, that’s not something that makes sense for an independent studio like Undead Labs, nor for that matter would it be a good business decision even for a large publisher.

Jun 05 2015

Year 2 Recollections

Hello fellow survivors,

On this very day two years ago, several hundred thousand of you took a chance and bought a little Xbox Live Arcade game named State of Decay. You had no idea who made it, or what it was all about, but you clearly loved survival-fantasy games and had a true gamer’s appetite for innovation and new gaming experiences. You may not have known that most of the development team behind the game — the artists, programmers, designers, musicians, animators, testers, and producers at Undead Labs — had been awake all night, waiting to see how you would react to a game that didn’t follow any established templates, and even broke fundamental design rules with mechanics like permadeath.

And, much to our joy (and, yeah, relief), the vast majority of you loved it. And told your friends. And streamed it on Twitch. And posted videos to YouTube. And tweeted about it. And over the next few months, State of Decay became the fastest-selling original* game of all time on Xbox Live Arcade, and went on to sell millions of copies on Xbox 360, Steam, and Xbox One.

And you know, two years later on, as we work on Big Things for the future of State of Decay, it’s a good time for all of us at Undead Labs and Microsoft to take a deep breath and reflect on exactly why we’re here, and why we have the opportunity to work on Big Things. I know it’s cliche to thank your customers, and sometimes it’s kind of like your mom saying “I love you” — she probably says it every day and you kind of start taking it for granted. But man, she means it from her heart. And so do we. Thank you for getting us here. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to keep working on Big Things. And thank you for being the kind of gamers who will take a chance on innovation.

Onward.

Jeff
June 5, 2015

* Curse you Minecraft! 😉

Aug 29 2014

State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition

Hell yes, we’re making State of Decay for Xbox One!

Man, it felt good to write that. There’s a huge difference between “We think it’s a good idea and we’re seriously considering it”, and “Hell yes, we’re working hard on it right now.” It’s generally a good idea to wait until you can say “hell yes”, because until then, Things Can Change, but we’ve crossed that threshold for State of Decay on Xbox One.

State of Decay is coming to Xbox One via the State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition. While we’re still very much in development, here’s what I can tell you today.

Aug 04 2014

Moonrise

Today it’s my great pleasure to announce our new game, Moonrise.

Moonrise is a multiplayer creature-collection RPG for mobile devices, conceived and developed here at the Lab and published by Kabam. It’s a fun romp through a gorgeous 3D world of ancient ruins and magical creatures, with deep, real-time strategic combat, full character and creature customization, and real-time online play with your friends.

You can read more about Moonrise and our partnership with Kabam in the Moonrise announcement press release, and at the game website at moonrise-game.com. We’ll also be showing the beta build of Moonrise off at PAX Prime in Seattle at the end of this month, so look for more information about the game and release details then.

Like everyone at the Lab, I’m intensely excited about Moonrise. It’s a game that embodies the same passion and spirit we poured into our first game, State of Decay. But alongside that excitement, I’m also very aware that this is a surprise to everyone who has been following the Lab for the last few years. What does it mean for us to be releasing a game that isn’t State of Decay?