The Bickering Gam Jam

Speed painting for splash page, literally made in the final hour.

In Jan 2014, Scott Washington and I entered the "All Out War" game jam, sponsored by The Walking Dead website. Our game, The Bickering, is a dark look at relationships between survivors in a zombie apocalypse. While most zombie games focus on killing ghouls, this game looks at keeping your survivors from killing each other. The theme of the game jam was 'War', so I focused on a quote, “War is the end of innocence, and a darkness inherent in human nature.”

Early mockup of user interface

The player is the mediator of a group of survivors amongst the apocalypse. She decides jobs, schedules, and supply displacement at the cost of fellow survivors attitudes. The more time people spend together the more their hostility rises, represented by the room glowing red. Meanwhile, the undead tear down the house's defenses outside the house.

There were 60 games entered and in the end we got an Honorable Mention. There's a lot to this game, but without the time to implement clear feedback and flourishing polish, it's a bit frustrating. But I'd rather it be overly ambitious than simple and stupid.

                                      Gameplay Trailer

Zombie Easter Eggs
There are many, many references for zombie fans in this game, and most of them very subtle. My favorite is that the house is modeled after the cabin in Evil Dead, along with the Oldsmobile and workshed. Some of the weapons are taken out of Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide. The survivors are all named after people related to zombie fiction:

• Romero (George Romero, director of Night of Living Dead)
• Shaun (Shaun of the Dead)
• Dr West (The Re-Animator)
• Redeker (savior of humanity, World War Z)
• Linda (Ash's lady in Evil Dead)
• Fulci (Director of Zombi 2)
• O'Bannon (Creator of Return of the Living Dead)
• Bub (trained zombie, Day of the Dead)
• Lionel (main character, Braindead)
• Dellamorte (Cemetary Man)
• Savini (zombie makeup artist)
• Nicotero (zombie special effects)
• Mikami (creator, Resident Evil)
• Boyle (director, 28 Days Later)
• Booth (designer, Left 4 Dead)
• Bela (Actor, White Zombie)
• Keene (author, The Rising)
• Littlewit (pen name, HP Lovecraft)
• Shelley (author, Frankenstein)
• Buckner (sadist zombie family, Cabin in the Woods)
• Wirkola (Director, Dead Snow)
• ElRay (main character, Planet Terror)
• Matheson (author, I am Legend)
• Velasco (actor, REC)
• Craven (director, Serpent and the Rainbow)