Dev Diary 1 – Comics to Game

The city has fallen. The masses have been infected by the Anti-Life Virus… How did we get here?

Michael Shinall here, DCeased designer, and today we’re here to answer just that! Specifically, we’re going to talk about the influences that lead to the creation of DCeased – A Zombicide Game. Yes, I know it can be easy to look at the title and go “Well, the comics…” and yes, that is true. Most all of what you will see in the game is based around the iconic comic line, but, that is not the only place where inspiration was drawn.

Some things to get straight right off the bat (and semi-spoilers for those who haven’t read the DCeased comics, but nothing major I promise), technically the “zombies” in DCeased aren’t “zombies” in the classic sense. No, in this story, everything stems from a universe-wide “outbreak” of the Anti-Life Virus, which turns those infected into bloodthirsty killers whole sole existence is now based around causing as much death and destruction as possible. But they don’t care about eating anyone.

What this means is that, while the infected do have some control over their powers and abilities, their higher cognitive functions are largely gone, save for an overwhelming urge to kill as much as possible. While infected, it also appears most biological processes and states just… stop. So, very “zombie-like” in that manner. But I did feel the need to explain that, technically, the term “zombie” isn’t proper… But they are called zombies in the series and this is Zombicide, so, that’s what we’re calling them here as well!