A rogue-lite that aims to quench the community’s thirst for a title that properly balances survival mechanics with fulfilling gameplay.
ABOUT THE GAME
What would I do in a zombie apocalypse?
Dead Matter is a true sandbox survival horror. Players will fight to survive in a zombie-packed, post-apocalyptic world that fosters whichever play-style fits you best. Settle down and defend your home from outside threats with an expansive crafting and barricading system, cultivate and live off the land, or branch out, explore, and scavenge whatever vehicles, weapons, and food you may find in a zombie-plagued Alberta – alone, or with your friends.
Customize
In Dead Matter, the only limits on your player is you. Freedom of expression is an important design philosophy for us and as such, we’ve planned out our customization systems from the beginning to give you as much power over your protagonist as you want. From hair, to head, to body, you’ll be in control.
The world of Dead Matter is filled with every manner of weapon you could think of, and we’ve built them from the ground up to support all kinds of personalization. Whether you want to wrap your baseball bat in barbed wire and go out bashing, rig an alarm clock with C4 to go off with a bang, or strap up your gun with a makeshift kitchen knife bayonet, the choice is yours.
And it doesn’t stop with the weapons. Our vehicles were broken down and designed in parts to allow you to transform any run-of-the-mill suburban family van into an apocalypse-kitted survivalist’s dream. All it takes is the right ambition and desire to leave your mark on the world (and the right materials, of course).
Building The World
To effectively simulate a breathing world, we’ve built our metagame and AI systems to support true variety. Expect the unexpected: any forest trek, highway cruise, or grocery store trip could lead you on crossed paths with a settlement of soldiers, a band of scavengers, or simple families searching for shelter, all of which will do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival.
But the AI don’t get to have all the fun. The world of Dead Matter was developed to support your settlements. Any building you see can be barricaded, upgraded, and fitted with electricity and flowing water. The land can be farmed and cultivated, and the lakes fished. You can live quietly, in the shadows of day-to-day post-apocalyptic life, or settle your people around Alberta’s transformers, dams, and bridges, to retake control of the world around you.
CORE FEATURES
In-Depth Medical System
Our medical system keeps track of player health through a variety of factors, such as blood pressure, blood loss, bites, scratches, and broken bones. Individual limbs and organs track injuries, and to avoid to sweet release of death, trauma has to be dealt with. For those of you who love playing doctor, we’ve made sure you’ll have plenty of fun.
Day and Night Cycle
Day in and day out, the world of Dead Matter never stops moving forward. The metagame system uses the time of day and time of year to dictate the weather, and the actions and decisions of all animals, AI, and zombies. As the days change, your threats change, and you’ve got to stay on your toes through all of it.
Weather
The weather is more than just a backdrop in Dead Matter. At any time, the elements could turn against you, and the warm skies of Alberta could birth heavy storms, blinding blizzards, and scorching heatwaves, all of which pose unique threats to your character and the world around you.
In-Depth Inventory System
A grid-based, jigsaw-style inventory system that challenges you to plan and conserve. Just as they are in the real world, items are host to a variety of unique variables beyond size and quantity, like temperature and quality. What you scavenge will often require unique planning and storage, so be conscious.
Scavenging
We didn’t want scavenging to feel restrictive in Dead Matter. Any container you find can be physically opened and looted, from a nightstand, to a vending machine, to a locked-up gun safe. You can search the home for the key or force it open and play your luck – just don’t make too much noise.
Electrical System
One of our earliest planned features. Electricity is a core part of modern life, and the beginning of the zombie apocalypse will reflect that. Our robust electrical system enables you to fully power your home, opening up many gameplay options from the typical minutia of turning lights on and off, to permitting the usage of power tools to enhance your crafting and upgrades. Nothing this good lasts forever, however, and bad luck and poor planning could leave you with dead equipment when things go south.
Hunting
Find, chase, kill, and skin the wildlife of Alberta for their fur and meat. We’ve tooled hunting to feel satisfying and fun for when you finally track down that buck you’ve had your eye on.
Farming
We’ve created an in-depth farming system that takes advantage of a variety of tools that all serve a variety of purposes. There are a large number of items that you can use to farm, and the more crafting-inclined can rig and repair devices to improve speed and yield.
Modding Support
Player freedom is an incredibly important aspect of a fun survival game, and as such we’re putting everything in your hands–our procedural development tools (which support full polish control for our environment artists), C++ and blueprint access, everything. We’re modders at our core, and we know how important modding support is for a healthy, long lasting community. Any user can host their own server, with their own settings and mods – on or off the Steam Workshop. It’s all accessible and it’s all free.
US & YOU
We want to build a strong connection with you, and that takes trust. We plan to post regular development updates on our website, the Kickstarter, and our social media, so you’re there every step of the way and never left in the dark.
Any suggestions, ideas, or general comments you’d like us to see – drop them on our website or social media. We check over our feedback regularly and would love to hear what you think!
