Overkill Software has finally given fans another look at its upcoming Walking Dead title, after highlighting one of the game’s playable characters, Aidan, a couple of months ago. Now, a new developer diary from Overkill shows off one of many neighborhood levels to be found in the game, taking players on a brief tour of Georgetown.
In the dev diary, environment artist Jacob Claussen spoke of the game’s setting and design, saying, “Contrast is really important. Creating a place that feels safe until a walker appears around the corner — I think that’s what makes Kirkman’s really interesting. I always ask the question ‘Why?’ Why did the pool of blood happen there, or why did somebody barricade their windows? Then you can give everything a meaning, and if you give everything a meaning, you get the sense of a lived-in world.”
Continuing on that idea, the game’s lead environment artist Jonatan Lönnqvist added, “We had to do a lot of research on how society and environments break down if nobody takes care of them. If nobody cuts the trees, nobody cuts the lawn, nobody picks up the trash on the street. Where do things start to rust, or mold start to build up?”
Right now we’re just seeing the environments themselves without added walkers or gameplay added to them, though the footage was captured in the game’s engine. Overkill’s The Walking Dead is currently expected to launch later this year for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. In the meantime, more dev diaries like this one will be forthcoming from Overkill.