During the planning stages of DEADCRAFT, the main character Reid was originally a normal human, not a half-zombie.
Although the game featured lots of zombies at the time, they were not the main attraction. They were used more for worldbuilding and to add some flavor to the game. Our focus at that time was creating a realistic, post-apocalyptic world based on the struggle for precious resources such as food and water.
However, we felt making the world too realistic would hinder gameplay and storytelling, and our team decided to make the game more outrageous and unique. By forgoing realism, we were able to come up with various zombie-related gameplay ideas and decided to make zombies a main feature of the game. This is what led us to make even the main character a zombie.
It would have been difficult to give Reid personality and purpose if he was a full zombie, so we decided to make him half-human and half-zombie. If he were a traditional zombie, he would just wander around aimlessly, and the player would have nothing to do. Accordingly, we gave him plenty of unique abilities and characteristics that make him the half-zombie he is today.
Because half-zombies are also half-human, Reid can use his human intelligence to craft and interact with people. On the other hand, he can tap into his half-zombie side to gain superhuman powers and create frankies (loyal zombie allies) to follow him into battle.
We hope you will enjoy finding the balance between Reid’s human and zombie sides for yourself.
Akira Kurochi
DEADCRAFT Director
*Screenshots captured from a game still in development.