The Dead Linger is an upcoming title from Sandswept Studios, funded by KickStarter. We recently covered the project, but now we've gotten a chance to sit down with Geoff Keene, the CEO and design studio of Sandswept, who gave us some insight into this awesome title.
Hi Geoff. Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions, it's great to have you. To start off, would you mind giving us just a little bit of info about the game, for those who don't know anything about it?
The Dead Linger is the definitive first-person, open-world zombie survival sandbox. We feel the zombie genre has been really lacking in this game, and gamers have been asking for it for far too long. We are creating that game where you can test your zombie survival skills in a true, open world, where you can really do whatever you want.
I know we're still in the very early stages of development, but conceptually, what kind of combat mechanics should we expect? By that I mean, is it going to be a real time game, Fallout style FPS mechanics, third person action?
The game is a single and multiplayer first-person shooter. Completely real-time, in a massive world.
How about vehicles? I know that some of the concept art shows them, and it just makes me think about how awesome it'd be to cruise around Zombieland with my buddies.
We have some plans for vehicles later in development, but they probably won't make it into the initial alpha release. We want to do them right, so you can cruise around with your buddies, just the way you want, in all sorts of awesome vehicles.
You're shooting for a really massive world, but it's not going to be an MMO, although multiplayer will be an option. How will that work - will the multiplayer be confined to a certain part of the world, or will it be wide open?
No invisible walls, no fake doors. You can go anywhere in the massive world, and we won't ever tell you that you can't -- as long as you have the means to get there.
On the KickStarter page, you mentioned a variety of multiplayer modes. Would you mind going over those again in a little more detail?
We haven't really fleshed out exactly what modes players want to see, but between cooperative play and PvP, that already opens a lot of doors. If you've wanted to survive the zombie apocalypse with your friends, you can. If you want to have a shoot out against other players in a zombie-filled city, or clan wars in the forest hills, you can do that too.
Speaking of PvP, will it be possible for someone to play as a zombie, or will the zombies just be an AI enemy both teams will have to deal with?
Right now we're focusing on the human survival aspect of the zombie apocalypse. As of now, we don't have any plans for player's to play as the zombies.
We've talked a lot about multiplayer, but what do you have in store for singleplayer?
The singleplayer game is for those interested in taking on the apocalypse alone. It's essentially the same as the multiplayer world, but you, and you alone, are surviving.
Finally, do you have any rough idea on when we might be able to get our hands on The Dead Linger?
We're trying to get the Alpha released within 6 months of the end of Kickstarter. That's about as accurate as we can get right now.
Thanks Geoff, we really appreciate your , and we can't wait to try it out!
Image via Sandswept
