GamersInfo.net: What inspired you to make a game like INFECTED?
Aaron Loeb: We all love the zombie genre and we knew we wanted to make a zombie game. So then we took our favorite themes from zombie games -- blood, guts, meaty chunks, and infections – and decided to make a game out of them.
GamersInfo.net: A big part of this game is making things go boom, give me a run down on what sort of guns are in the game and how the combo system works?
Aaron Loeb: There are nearly 20 weapons in the game, ranging from the simple pistol to the all-powerful BMFG which can send guys flying into the air. There are also many grenades and the very handy viral chainsaw.
Combos are a pillar of the game. You have two guns in Infected. One (like the pistol or BMFG) weakens the zombies, but can’t kill them. The other, the viral gun, has bullets filled with your blood, which is deadly to the Infected. If just a drop of your blood enters their system, they explode and carry your blood to any infected nearby. If they are also weakened enough for you blood to get into them, they also explode, carrying your blood on to yet more zombies. In this way, you set up and set off massive chain reactions of exploding zombies. These are combos, and you can get some very big ones.
GamersInfo.net: With INFECTED you were obviously not going for straight horror, but a mix of comedy and horror. Give us a run down on some of the game's funnier bits. And some of its scarier ones.
Aaron Loeb: On the comic end, some of the best are the audio briefings you receive before missions. My favorite involves a call to Japan to see if the virus has reached Tokyo and the lengthy monologue from the Japanese prime minister. But later in the game one of the characters freaks out in your earpiece with a monologue unlike any heard in the history of videogames.
There’s also a puppet show in the game. That has to be a videogame first.
On the scary end, the Infected have halos to let you know if they are “splattable” or not. When they’re far away, they look like normal civilians. My favorite scare is when you’re trying to save civilians and you see one in the distance, start running toward him to save him, and then it turns out to be a gut-spewing zombie. Always good for a jump.
But the scariest thing is when the Infected go berserk in later missions – they have weapons later on, so sometimes you have these fast-moving, freaking insane zombies leaping through the air at you brandishing a revving chainsaw. Now, that’s awesome. And scary.
GamersInfo.net: With violent video games coming under fire, have you received any flak for the over-the-top violence and gore in INFECTED? Why do you think that is if you have/haven't?
Aaron Loeb: No. I think it’s because it’s zombies. Everyone, even people mad about videogame violence, likes to blow up zombies.
GamersInfo.net: Tell me more about the multiplayer matches, how are they set up? Are the players trying to kill each other or complete certain objectives before the other players can?
Aaron Loeb: There are both. There are four kinds of multiplayer – simple deathmatch and team deathmatch, but also mad cow, in which players fight to control the mad cow pickup (which turns them into a mad cow) and survivor, in which players fight to get civilians back to an evac point.
Ad hoc matches can be played with up to eight people.
GamersInfo.net: Are there any plans for you to set up any large multiplayer matches for INFECTED players?
Aaron Loeb: Yup! Keep your eyes on infected.com. We definitely want to put something together.
GamersInfo.net: It recently got out that you've included hidden skins of the members of Slipknot, can you give us an idea of how many special or hidden skins there are in the game?
Aaron Loeb: All the members of Slipknot, The lead singer of Chimaira, Bloodrayne, and the winner of a contest we did with Evil Avatar. That one is my favorite. The winner of the contest is in the game as an avatar which can only be unlocked with a cheat code. We’re planning to give him and only him the cheat code – he can decide how many people get to play as him.
GamersInfo.net: The game takes place around Christmas, is there any chance we'll be gunning down some zombie Santas?
Aaron Loeb: Oh, yes. Tons. There’s one mission where a shopping mall Santa convention gets infected and there are Santas everywhere!
GamersInfo.net: What is your favorite part of INFECTED?
Aaron Loeb: Passing viruses to other people is very, very sweet. I love getting a list of everyone I just infected and where they’re from.
In single-player the crazed missions really have “it.” There’s a concept in the game of “Viral Overload.” If too many civilians in the game get infected, the map goes into Viral Overload and goes totally berserk. So, you’re trying to keep the game from going into viral overload while also trying to keep the zombies from killing you while also trying to set up big combos so you can get better stuff – the game just gets crazily frenetic! I love it.
GamersInfo.net: Are you going to be providing any sort of downloadable content to players in the future? Such as speciality skins for the top ranked players?
Aaron Loeb: There’s no plan for downloads, but players will be able to see how their virus is spreading all over the world on the website.
GamersInfo.net: The thought of my friends craving my living flesh is a frightening one, explain how exactly I'm going to "zombify" my friends through emails?
Aaron Loeb: Why explain when I can show you! Check this out:
You put your picture in and then turn it into a hideous zombie and send it to your friends.
GamersInfo.net: How long is the single player game? And if you have to clear single player missions to lose infections gained in multiplayer matches, what happens if you've beaten the single player game?
Aaron Loeb: Depending on how goof you are, the single player game is 6-8 hours. When you’ve beaten the game, the last three missions – which are crazy hard – are the ones that get infected. So you have to beat those to clear the virus, or you can clear the virus by spreading it to other people. When you’ve finished the game, the pressure is definitely on you to clear the virus by passing it on rather than playing single-player.
GamersInfo.net: I'm assuming you guys play a fair bit of this at the office, is there any particular person who has infected large numbers of the office with his character?
Aaron Loeb: Yes. Raven, our technical artist, has a sick gift with videogames. You can track him online as “Boo.” He’s hella good.
GamersInfo.net: What would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?
Aaron Loeb: Die. Quickly.
GamersInfo.net: What are your favorite Zombie movies?
Aaron Loeb: Shawn of the Dead and Dead Alive. Love em. Well, and Army of the Dead. Ohh.. and Night of the Living Dead (old jack and new jack versions).
Hmmm… I could go on all night!
And the TV says to me, "I will eat your children." I look back, and say, "Only if I get to play their games after you're done."
