''I Made a Game with Zombies in It!'' (officially stylized as ''I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1''), is a
zombie-themed
multidirectional shooter video game for the
Xbox 360, available through the
Xbox Live Indie Games service. Released in 2009, it was developed by
Ska Studios and was designed entirely by company founder James Silva, previously best known for the
Xbox Live Arcade game ''
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai''.
The game was developed using
Microsoft XNA, though its tongue-in-cheek description claims it was made using "Hypermagic Engine 3.0 and the Megacore X parallelization processor." The game's title makes excessive comic usage of features of Internet writing, such as
leetspeak, overuse of
exclamation marks
The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
, and
typographical errors. It has since been re-launched through Steam in November 2021 and through Xbox Store in October 2022, and is currently still available for download.
Gameplay
The game features one to four protagonists viewed from an aerial perspective. Using two
analog sticks, the players shoot droves of attacking zombies while collecting
power-up
In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...
s, with the objective of surviving until the game's background song ends.
The game is timed by a
13:37-minute rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
-style background song sung by Silva himself
with lyrics about the game itself.
The song, which shares the same title as the game, was made available for download on the official Ska Studios website. The song was also released through the
Rock Band Network
The ''Rock Band'' Network (abbreviated RBN) was a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the ''Rock Band'' seri ...
, about a year after the game's release.
Silva said Xbox Live's indie game price point inspired him to make "a $1 experience that delivers." He did not expect it to be a success, and that he was "half-expecting it to fail for being too stupid of a game."
Reception
The game was ranked 2009's most popular Xbox Live Indie Game based on connectivity.
It sold 160,000 copies by January 2010, making it the top-selling Xbox Live Indie Game by more than 40,000 units.
''Zombies'' went on to sell 200,000 copies by March 2010 and jumped to 308,000 in sales by August 2010 making Silva roughly $215,000 after
Microsoft's 30 percent revenue fee.
The game became a favorite with critics, and was noted for its quirky sense of humor and theme song.
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
ranked it the best independent game of 2009.
IGN writer Erik Brudvig said the game was extremely entertaining and "somehow about as insane as its title," despite the simple controls.
''I Made a Game with Zombies in It!'' won the 2009 Inside Gaming Award for Best Indie Game.
References
External links
Xbox Live Marketplace website{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329084604/http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585502a6/ , date=2010-03-29
2009 video games
Indie games
Microsoft games
Microsoft XNA games
Multidirectional shooters
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with commentaries
Windows Phone games
Xbox 360 games
Xbox 360 Live Indie games
Video games about zombies
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Ska Studios games