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Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel without a Pulse" Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
06/01/2006
Stubbs the Zombie makes his long awaited European debut shortly as TVG chats to the guys responsible...
Having kept track of this attention grabbing title that sees the player assume the role of the main character in the game, Stubbs, our very own quiz master, Derek dela Fuente, chatted with Matt Soell, Lead Writer from Wideload Games - the developer, about some of the quirky but appealing qualities the game will offer! What also makes both the game and Wideload even more interesting is the fact that a number of the personnel at the Chicago office previously worked for Bungie Software on the superb flagship Halo game!
What has inspired the making and creation of Stubbs the Zombie and what are your general thoughts on the many other Zombie games around?
We wanted to make a funny action game. Comedy movies are huge, so why not comedy games? We also wanted to do something unusual - something that would stand out on a shelf full of WWII shooters. Everyone at Wideload wrote up a bunch of ideas - one of mine concerned a zombie taking over a city using his own decaying body as the primary weapon. It had a certain amount of high-concept appeal to say "the zombie game where YOU play the zombie." People generally understand what you mean right away. It was different enough to be an interesting challenge to us, but not so different that it would confuse people.
I've played a lot of games with zombies in them, and I'm actually a fan of that horror aesthetic, but most of those game zombies are fodder enemies - you walk into a room, shoot all of them and move on. We wanted Stubbs to have character, soul and a sense of humor. If you look at the history of zombie movies, you'll find several significant entries full of black humor and pointed satire - things you'd be hard-pressed to find in most zombie games. It was another reason to do the game - we like to do things no one else is doing or has done.
Your approach to creating a game is slightly different from the norm. Can you explain how this differs and what benefit this has in putting the design together and how important the humour in the game is to give it its own unique feel?
Most development studios working on a big title are relatively giant groups of people - you can find hundreds of names in the credits in some instances. Wideload has a small (eleven person) creative team. We essentially design the whole game on paper, build a functioning prototype, then we hire contractors to provide the finished assets from our detailed plans, i.e. characters, level maps, scenery objects, audio, animation, etc...Wideload assembles all the components into a finished whole and a game is born. On a pragmatic level, not having a full-time staff of 50 or 100 people means we save a lot of money. It also means we can concentrate on the stuff that will benefit most from our personal involvement. We're a small, focused, highly functional team.
Humor is a key part of the Wideload aesthetic. We want to make you laugh, and everyone on the team works toward that goal. For Stubbs in particular, humor was paramount. Without humor, Stubbs would be a grim game indeed, and there are already plenty of straight-faced zombie games out there.
Games featuring zombies are typically focused towards visual detail and the shock value. Are you working to this premise and what would you say is the game's one real innovation?
We're not necessarily trying to be the most realistic in our gory depiction of zombie carnage. We're going for laughs, not horror. There are definitely shocking and outrageous things in the game, but they're there for amusement value.
One of the things we identified early on as a core gameplay mechanic was the idea of conversion. In most games, you kill the bad guys and that's it - they're dead. In Stubbs they get back up and fight alongside you. The level design takes this into account - the players who learn how to use their zombies well will have the most fun.
OK back to the basics - what is the objective for the player and what special skills and traits does Stubbs possess?
Stubbs wakes up one morning to discover he's been dead and buried for almost thirty years - and to add insult to injury, someone's built a city on top of his unmarked grave. The inhabitants of Punchbowl, Pennsylvania are just as unhappy to see Stubbs as he is to see them, and it's not long before hostilities erupt. Stubbs' objective is to conquer those contemptible humans one delicious brain at a time - and perhaps live long enough to find some meaning in his new undead existence.
Stubbs doesn't start with any weapons except his own body. He's got super zombie strength, which allows him to withstand some brutal attacks and deal out some brutality of his own. He's got a supply of explosive internal organs that he can throw like grenades. He can tear off his own head and roll it toward enemies as a sputum-spurting explosive device. He's got an intestinal tract that cooks up a horrifying blend of unnatural gases that can stop a grown man in his tracks. He's got a poorly attached left hand that he can remove as necessary and send off as a five-fingered emissary. If the hand clamps onto the head of an unsuspecting human, that human - and his weapons, if any - are at Stubbs' disposal. And, of course, Stubbs has mighty jaw muscles capable of biting cleanly through a human skull to get at the succulent brains inside.
Other skills? Well, he's a pretty good dancer....
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without A Pulse offers a non-linear gameplay experience; perhaps you could elaborate on this a little for us?
Stubbs is similar to Halo in that there are usually a few different ways you can approach an encounter, and different play styles result in different experiences. Say you find a group of armed Punchbowl police officers guarding an area. You can revel in your zombie strength and run directly at your foes, or you can play it more stealthily and creep up behind them to attack when they're not looking. You can even hide while your hand crawls along the ceiling, drops down on an unsuspecting officer's head, and use him (and his weapon) to get rid of the remaining cops. Maybe you can commandeer a vehicle and just plow through the blockade. It's very much up to the player.
Can you describe the possessive powers that Stubbs possesses?
Yes. When Stubbs tears off his hand, the game camera switches to follow the hand as it creeps along. When the hand possesses some unfortunate victim, the possessed person becomes the focal point, with the hand clamped on the back of his head. You can move that person around and do everything they can do. The only caveat is that Stubbs has no control over his own body while he possesses someone else, so you need to make sure he's in a safe place where no enemies can sneak up on him.
Stubbs the Zombie is based upon the Halo engine from Bungie; have you made any modifications and perhaps you could talk a little about its strengths?
We are using the Halo engine. I don't think we've modified the aiming system too dramatically, but there are other areas - graphics and AI being the two obvious ones - where we have made some significant changes.
Whilst going for an 'over the top' experience how do you draw a balance to ensure that gamers don't find it too unpredictable and there are enough rules to ensure cohesive and progressive gameplay?
If the core gameplay elements are simple enough and consistent throughout the game, you can get as crazy as you want in terms of content. We spent a lot of time balancing gameplay, and took great care with that, resulting in a game that never feels arbitrary and capricious. The designers went to great lengths to create a fun experience.
can you highlight one event in the game that really shows off the ethos of the game?
It's hard to narrow it down to just one event - I have a few favorites. I do have a fondness for Stubbs' soliloquy during the farm level, and indeed that whole farm level is a lot of fun. The barbershop quartet is fun as well.
TVG would like to thank Matt Soell for providing this insight into Wideload Games first title; Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without A Pulse is slated for a UK release in March courtesy of THQ.
