''Zombies'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

adaptation of the popular tile-based board game by Twilight Creations Inc, publisher of the original game. The game was initially to be developed by

Big Rooster Big Rooster is a chain of fast food restaurants in Papua New Guinea that specialises in roast chicken. The company began operations in 1987. As of 1992, it was part of a Queensland-based Australian chain of the same name which had four stores in Pa ...

for

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

, Xbox Live Arcade and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

PCs through

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, with possible versions for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

and the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

. However, only Windows Phone 7 and

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...

versions have been confirmed after development of the game was resumed by

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Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Zombies'' is closely modeled on the original board game. Players move their "shotgun guy" (player piece) around the board trying to reach the helipad tile to escape the ever-growing

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

horde. Alternately, players can win the game by killing 25 zombies. The Windows Phone 7 version of ''Zombies'' uses the

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

of the device for all control input. For example, players tap a

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

graphic to roll for character movement, zombie movement, and combat. Players can use touchscreen gestures to zoom in and out of the board as well as scroll to view different areas of the board. The initial Windows Phone 7 release of ''Zombies'' supports

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

as well as

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

gameplay on one device. Human players can play against up to four

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

or human opponents in a "pass and play" game. In this style of play, Player 1 takes their turn, then passes the device to Player 2, who takes their turn and passes to Player 3, etc. According to developer

, on-line multiplayer for ''Zombies'' is in development for a future update to the game which may also include play "across multiple hardware setups." Single-player gameplay in ''Zombies'' is a "Survival Mode" in which the "shotgun guy" is placed in a randomly generated town full of zombies. The player must move their "shotgun guy" to the helipad tile (as in a standard multi-player game) or kill all the zombies in the town in order to win the game.

Development

Development of ''Zombies'' by

was originally announced in October 2008. In October 2009, videogame news site Joystiq reported that Twilight Creations was looking for another company to develop the game, but could not "disclose the status of ormer developerBig Rooster." No further word on the game appeared until

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

announced a list of Xbox Live-compatible titles for their Windows Phone 7 platform at Gamescom 2010. Developed by

, the Windows Phone 7 version of ''Zombies'' was released on 12 January 2011, while the

version was released on 1 March 2013. A version of the game for Xbox Live Arcade has been confirmed and was in active development, but it was cancelled.

References

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External links

Twilight Creations
2011 video games Android (operating system) games Cancelled Nintendo DS games Cancelled PlayStation 3 games Cancelled Wii games IOS games Video games based on board games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Video games about zombies Windows Phone games Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United States Babaroga (company) games