RPGWatch Indie Showcase/ Zombasite

This is the first installment of our RPGWatch Indie Showcase. We got a lot of suggestions for games we can cover. Thanks to our user Notorious for the suggestion to cover Zombacite. We contacted Steven Peeler, who is both the developer of Zombasite and RPGWatch member and he agreed to showcase his game. Thanks to Steven for his time. Hopefully this will be the first of many installments.

RPGWatch: Tell us a little about your background and experience?

Steven: My name is Steven Peeler. I've been doing the indie games thing for the last 14 years with my company Soldak Entertainment. We have released 5 games (Depths of Peril, Kivi's Underworld, Din's Curse, Drox Operative, and Zombasite) , 3 expansions (Demon War, Invasion of the Ancients, and Orc Schism), and have 1 game (Din's Legacy) currently in Early Access. Before Soldak, I worked at Ritual Entertainment for about 6 years where I was Technical Director when I left. And before that there was boring stuff like working at Nortel for a few years and getting a computer engineering degree from A&M.

RPGWatch: How long did it take you to develop your game?

Steven: Zombasite took two full-time people and five part-time contractors about two years to develop.

RPGWatch: What games inspired your game?

Steven: In general, my biggest inspirations for our games are probably D&D, Diablo, Civilization, Master of Orion, and Might & Magic. That list could probably go on and on though. For Zombasite specifically, I just like zombies. J

RPGWatch: What's the target audience for your game?

Steven: The main target for Zombasite is action RPG players and people that like Zombie games. You don't need to actually like zombies though since there is an option to turn them off.

RPGWatch: How would you describe your game to an interested player?

Steven: Zombasite is a zombie apocalypse action RPG set in a dynamic, evolving, fantasy world for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The world of Aleria is facing the possibility of the end of all life because of a nasty, voracious, all-consuming Zombie Parasite called Zombasite. It is intelligent, insatiable, and unstoppable!

So what does this have to do with you? You are the leader of a clan trying to survive the apocalypse. This is easier said than done. When a follower dies, they can't be saved by any means. The Zombasite is highly contagious and zombies are quickly ravaging the world's surface. Food is a critical resource that must be obtained. Vendors are rare and have limited supplies. Some of the stronger monsters have survived and are as dangerous as ever. Clans of humans and monsters are fighting over what few supplies are left.  Even within your own clan it isn't safe. Humans living on the edge are even more unstable than usual. So yeah, survival isn't easy.

RPGWatch: In a huge RPG market, why should players give your game a chance?

Steven: Most RPGs on the market have static worlds and storylines. No matter what you do, the world proceeds exactly as it was designed. Our games are different. The world is dynamic and changes based on what you, the monsters, and the other clans all do. Since things you do or don't do actually have an impact, I think our games have more room for roleplaying than most "real" RPGs.

RPGWatch: You're game has gotten some positive feedback. Is there any player comments you found especially noteworthy?

Steven: I can't think of anything specific, but that's just because we get so much useful feedback from our fans. I actually keep track of fan suggestions and add them to our patch notes for all to see. You can see all of them for Zombasite at http://www.soldak.com/Zombasite/Patches/Changes.html (a name in parenthesis at the end of a line is the fan that suggested the change).

RPGWatch: Do you have future plans to support your game? If not do you have plans for another project?

Steven: We actually have a new game called Din's Legacy in Early Access right now. You can get it at Steam and it is currently get 25% off its final price.

I'm actually doing an experiment where I'm sharing the code base between Zombasite and Din's Legacy so most changes I make to Din's Legacy automatically get applied to Zombasite. Every once in a while I do a new patch for Zombasite that has a ton of changes due to work on Din's Legacy. So far this has been working out really well.

RPGWatch: I have yet to play Zombasite, but did play two of your other games, Din's Curse and Drox Operative. I found it fascinating that you combined Diablo like hack and slay gameplay with monster factions that act like cultures do in a 4X strategy game. What gave you the idea of including monster factions that pursue their own goals and come into conflicts with one another?

Steven: I've played with the factions idea in several of our games now. In the Depths of Peril universe games (Din's Curse, Zombasite, and Din's Legacy), I believe the original inspiration for the brutal fighting between covenants was the dark elf families in the Forgotten Realms Drizzt books.

For Drox Operative, I really like 4X games (fantasy and space) and wanted to explore what it would be like for a lone character (in this case a ship) to adventure amidst races that were exploring, colonizing, and fighting over the galaxy. I think it worked out really well.

Thanks for the interview! Since I'm actually a regular lurker on RPGWatch if anyone has further questions, I would love to answer them.