DEADCRAFT News

DEADCRAFT’s art direction was conceived by a team of four people: the director (Akira Kurochi, myself), the producer (Hisashi Fujii), the art lead, and the lead concept artist. In the early stages of development, we met face-to-face in conference rooms, but our meetings eventually shifted toward remote work due to COVID. Since we were not used to developing remotely, we encountered difficulties with miscommunication and conflicting ideas.



For the environment design, we strived to make the “Ark,” the last bastion of humanity inhabited by the villainous Nebron and his lackeys, exude the lively energy of the people residing there. At the same time, we wanted to convey an eeriness reflecting Nebron’s treatment of his subjects as little more than living resources. By featuring steel and fire heavily in the design, we were able to create a rich environment that feels unrestricted by conventional post-apocalyptic worldbuilding. It is a shame that we do not get a chance to see the whole Ark from a bird’s-eye view.

In contrast, Reid’s home—a partially destroyed house in the shadow of a crumbling cliff—serves as his base of operations and symbolizes starting from the very bottom. It would be too dangerous to live there in real life. You can utilize crafting to make wonderful improvements to the area around your house, so we hope you enjoy this fixer-upper.



In terms of character design, the game presents a unique spin on the genre by featuring half-zombies, frankies (home-grown zombie allies), and zombie crafting, so we knew we wanted character designs with a strong pop of color that eschewed the typical dark, violent designs of post-apocalyptic worlds.



For example, Brandon, an enemy who appears early in the game, is violent and brutal, but because he is sort of dimwitted, we tried giving him a slightly more likeable design. Since Brandon uses a flamethrower as his weapon, his hairstyle is also inspired by flames. Other characters also have fun designs that make them stand out in a post-apocalyptic world, and we hope you enjoy them.

In this game, you can create various items through crafting, and we wanted to differentiate the designs between normal crafting and zombie crafting as much as possible. Designs for normal craftable items are realistic, while designs for items made through zombie crafting are playful and fantastical. There are a variety of craftable items such as weapons, facilities, and food that you can see for yourself.




Akira Kurochi
DEADCRAFT Director

*Screenshots captured from a game still in development.

During the planning stages of DEADCRAFT, the main character Reid was originally a normal human, not a half-zombie.



Although the game featured lots of zombies at the time, they were not the main attraction. They were used more for worldbuilding and to add some flavor to the game. Our focus at that time was creating a realistic, post-apocalyptic world based on the struggle for precious resources such as food and water.

However, we felt making the world too realistic would hinder gameplay and storytelling, and our team decided to make the game more outrageous and unique. By forgoing realism, we were able to come up with various zombie-related gameplay ideas and decided to make zombies a main feature of the game. This is what led us to make even the main character a zombie.



It would have been difficult to give Reid personality and purpose if he was a full zombie, so we decided to make him half-human and half-zombie. If he were a traditional zombie, he would just wander around aimlessly, and the player would have nothing to do. Accordingly, we gave him plenty of unique abilities and characteristics that make him the half-zombie he is today.

Because half-zombies are also half-human, Reid can use his human intelligence to craft and interact with people. On the other hand, he can tap into his half-zombie side to gain superhuman powers and create frankies (loyal zombie allies) to follow him into battle.

We hope you will enjoy finding the balance between Reid’s human and zombie sides for yourself.

Akira Kurochi
DEADCRAFT Director

*Screenshots captured from a game still in development.

In DEADCRAFT, you can live a self-sufficient life, growing vegetables in your fields and killings rats to cook their meat.



However, we wanted to make a survival game that provides players with multiple pathways to their next meal.

Some methods to get resources you need to survive include threatening or even killing townspeople for their possessions. Of course, there are risks in committing crimes, so it is up to the player to choose if they wish to engage in these activities. Killing residents raises your Wanted level and makes you a target for reprisal, but you can kill Bawkers—members of an outlaw gang living in the wastelands—with impunity.



That’s why Bawkers are treated pretty horribly even by in-game missions, such as asking the player to go kill them when an ally needs zombie food.

You can also rob shopkeepers, but they always have several bodyguards, so be prepared for a fight if you mess with them. Taking on a shopkeeper and their bodyguards requires preparation, but the rewards will be well worth it if you succeed. Corpses of fallen foes are a valuable resource in this game because corpses of stronger enemies create stronger frankies (zombie allies). Some weapons can dismember corpses, so choose your weapons wisely when entering a fight as different crafting recipes will require either disassembled or intact corpses.

Hisashi Fujii
DEADCRAFT Producer

*Screenshots captured from a game still in development

From the beginning of development, we had already decided that frankies (loyal zombie followers) should be growable like crops and that the main character would be a half-zombie, but we wanted to give the game an even stronger hook that players hadn’t seen before.



When I was thinking about reasons to make the main character a half-zombie, I decided that we needed to make a crafting game that incorporated zombies. That is how zombiecrafting, a process in which items are made from corpses and other undead materials, was born.

The first zombiecrafting item I thought up was the zombie car (a.k.a. The Sleigh).



I needed to present my plans internally before beginning full production of the game. The Sleigh was easy to understand conceptually and had great visual impact, so I ordered the design even before deciding where it would be used in-game.

Normal tools have engines, motors, and other kinds of power sources, but items made from zombiecrafting have none of the above—they are able to operate simply because they are zombies repurposed as tools. With this new perspective on crafting, I had my unique hook for this game.

That’s also when we decided “DEADCRAFT” would be the title.

Hisashi Fujii
DEADCRAFT Producer

*Screenshots captured from a game still in development

This is Akira Kurochi, the director of DEADCRAFT at Marvelous.

In this post, I will talk about how action and survival work in our game, and how crafting is at the foundation of everything.

Since the game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, I thought about what life would be like. I imagined a world where resources are scarce, food and water are difficult to come by, and even just surviving is a daily challenge.



We wanted to incorporate realistic gameplay elements that would make the struggle for survival feel more intense and desperate, such as expending energy when running and attacking, and becoming thirsty and hungry as time passes.

Although thirst and hunger do not kill you immediately, they do put you at a disadvantage: the screen becomes blurry with thirst and your character’s movement becomes slower with hunger. To prevent this from happening, players must always be thinking about their next meal, and remember to sleep to recover energy.

But just how can you obtain these items necessary for survival?



We thought about this question and decided that in addition to finding items or buying them at stores as you might in another game, it would make sense in this setting to be able to threaten the townsfolk and shopkeepers for their belongings.

Of course, you can’t do these things with impunity, and raising your notoriety can put a target on your back. Since NPCs also live in the same post-apocalyptic world, it is only natural that shopkeepers hire bodyguards to protect their business. You can fight for the items you want, or you can choose a more honest method of gathering resources and paying for those items instead. We hope you enjoy playing the game your way.

Finally, I would like to talk about crafting. This is the foundation of the game, so much so that we included it in the title.



You can craft all the food and drink you need to survive, and beyond meeting your basic needs there are even food items that grant powerful buffs.

You’ll also need a powerful arsenal to take on your enemies, and you can craft a wide variety of weapons from scratch, as well as upgrade everything in your collection. There are all kinds of weapons, from melee to long-range, so not only does crafting make you stronger, but it can also let you change up your playstyle. You can even create placeable items, such as automatic turrets to mow down large numbers of enemies, or grow a team of zombie companions to fight for you.

We hope that you will try making and using all kinds of items to survive the world of DEADCRAFT.

Akira Kurochi
DEADCRAFT Director

*Screenshots captured from a game still in development.