THE GAME
Zombie Pandemic is a browser based MMORPG currently in beta and developed by Copenhagen based Pixel Pandemic ApS. Zombie Pandemic offers a top down, bird’s eye view of the city, with characters being able to enter and loot buildings at special locations. These buildings may also contain facilities such as shops, training facilities, NPCs who offer missions, jobs or survivors in need of help. These special locations are represented on the city map by specific colours.
THE MAP
The game area is divided into three maps, with maps 2 and 3 having level pre-requisites for access. Each map consists of a 60×49 grid, for a total of 2940 potential locations per map. Inaccessible water locations reduce this number by a variable amount per map. The game contains a total of 1300 unique locations, and also offers an underground subway system and a sewer system for players to explore.
THE AVATAR & THE ITEMS
A customizable avatar allows the player to pick the looks and clothing of his character during the character creation process. Additionally, the player may also equip his character a number of looted or bought clothing items during the game. A crafting system allows the player to create improvised weaponry and special food items at a safe house’s workbench. The game curently contains 700 different items, with more being added on a regular basis. “Please contact Thomas at thomas@pixelpandemic.net for interviews, competitions, concept artwork and other press related issues.”
THE GAMEPLAY
The core game mechanic is based around an action point system, wherein players use Stamina Points (SP) to perform actions such as moving to another location, shooting zombies or looting. Stamina Points regenerate at a rate of 1 point per 3 minutes for Free to Play accounts, up to a maximum of 480 SP. Paid Premium accounts regenerate at a faster rate (1 SP per 2 minutes) and have a higher maximum SP limit (1440 SP). The facility “Living Quarters” at safe houses further increases the SP regeneration speed by up to 25%. T he game offers 150 distinct zombie opponents to do battle with, as well as other dangers in the form of wild animals and armed raiders.
THE ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Other game features of Zombie Pandemic include a “zombie radio” with ambience music and sound effects, an external chat room application and an in-game messaging system. Zombie Pandemic currently offers two servers: a Beta test server for debugging of new features and a Beta game server. Both servers can be accessed by players upon registration. Announced future features include Co-op quests, PvP game play and a new server with greater hardcore game play.
The game is available via www.zombiepandemic.com and on the English version of the game portal www.bigpoint.com. We are looking for more distribution partners to support the scheduled full game release in Q3 2012.