Extended Preview of Deadbury Academy

What happens when the zombie outbreak starts outside of an elite boarding school? Take the role of a student at the prestigious Steadbury Academy in an all-new survival horror choice game.

This is the tagline for my new game set in the first days of the zombie apocalypse. Interest in the game has been incredible, with the demo having been viewed 2,600+ times already. In this article, I will describe what you can expect from character creation, the early plot, and how the story will develop throughout the first season.

First, let's get a few things out of the way. Spoilers will be unavoidable in this article. I will keep things as vague as possible, but if you wish to remain spoiler free, you may want to skip reading this.

Secondly, this game is mainly written by Mia, a longtime reader of my games, a contributor to Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven (ZE:SH), a playtester of many of my games, and a writer of numerous published virtual novels. I am coding and producing the game, meaning that I am writing all of the code; I am handling things like editing and testing, working on all graphics commissions, dealing with the production part required by Hosted Games, and handling marketing and customer service, when necessary. Also, as I code and produce the game, I will add some content.

Character Creation

Since you are all familiar with Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven (ZE:SH) character creation, you will see that the version in Deadbury Academy (DA) is based on ZE:SH; however, DA has been streamlined to use skills only without attributes. We have also removed specific skills that will be less useful in this game, such as Cooking and Driving. Endurance and Willpower, formerly Attributes, have graduated to the Skills. You will also see Luck as a new skill not used in ZE:SH. Sometimes, when you fail a skill check, Luck will kick in and help you succeed. It will seem completely random, and the effects could be surprising. For example, you may go to shoot a zombie, but your skill in Ranged is too low for the difficulty of the shot. Even though you miss, Luck kicks in; the bullet ricochets and hits a shelf holding a heavy box which falls and cracks the zombie in the head. You won't be able to rely on Luck, but it may be the difference between life and death when it kicks in.

Another significant difference (it may be viewed as an improvement) from ZE:SH to DA is using a stat called "well-being." This stat combines Physical Health, Mental Health, Fatigue, and Stress. These individual stats were challenging for both of us as developers and players. Having one stat that covers the overall well-being of the character simplifies the game in a way that offers a better experience for players. While many people enjoy the complexity of ZE:SH, we want DA to have its own unique playstyle.

I don't want to go into depth regarding character clubs and activities, challenges, and hobbies. These are all well spelled out in the game. I will address a few questions I have seen repeatedly as related to several challenges.

• Pregnancy - yes, your character could be pregnant if you choose to be. You will know the father and will interact with him during the game.
• Father - you could also have fathered a child in this game, and yes, you can meet the mother and interact with her during the game.
• Haunted - yes, this will add a supernatural element to the game. You are haunted by some paranormal entity or entities that will harass you during the game.

Prologue and Early Game

The prologue is optional, although it does have an impact on the game. The character that you create will have a direct effect on things that occur later in the game. If you choose to skip the prologue, don't worry; you will have a chance to make specific choices that lead to the same effects. For example, there are particular objects you may acquire in the prologue that will come back later in the game. If you skip the prologue, those items will still be accessible. The real purpose of the prologue is to understand the story and, to a lesser extent, give you a chance to build up your personality, which the game tracks.

Much of the game's first chapter will introduce you to the central characters and give you ample opportunities to interact with them. In ZE:SH, most of the cast is not met until later in Part 1. While it works in Safe Haven, Mia and I wanted to focus the early part of the game on building relationships. Most of the first part of the game plays out like a high school life sim.

The Rest of the Story

After character creation, the character is sitting in class when an airplane goes down in the woods outside the school grounds. This is the first significant event that propels the story forward. Directly after this, you meet the school's headmaster, Mr. Garrison, who will be one of the game's primary antagonists. That may seem like a spoiler, but you can tell by how he acts in the first part that he doesn't like students.

From there, you are given a free day to meet other students and visit nearby shops, stores, and hang-out spots. You will be able to meet up with your roommate and students in your class or explore the city. This will be a time when you also meet up with the father of your child (for the Pregnancy challenge), the mother of your child (the Father challenge), or your sibling (Sibling challenge).

The next day, school resumes, and you attend class again. When you visit the cafeteria for dinner, you can interact with other students until a food fight breaks out. This leads to the character fleeing the cafeteria along with the main group of characters as they run into the woods. This is where the game truly begins. It's your first opportunity to explore the scene of the airplane crash. You'll start encountering undead at this point, although the game plays more as a mystery than a zombie survival game. Don't worry; the zombie outbreak has already started.

Romantic Options

One of the most requested aspects of interactive stories is developing romantic relationships with other characters. In this game, you have the choice of forming a romantic relationship with one of six characters:

• Adam Burton— African-American student, one of the scholars of class, and a reporter for the school newspaper.
• Darren Banks— white student, a football player, and a pet lover.
• Jasmine Woods— white student, a member of the Junior ROTC.
• Kiyone Mura— Asian exchange student, semiprofessional gamer.
• Lilith Jenner— white student, cheerleader with a secret.
• Rafael Garcia—Mexican exchange student. Lover of all things supernatural.

These will also be the members of your main group throughout the game.

Final Thoughts

There are numerous parts of this game's better plan that I have not even addressed. For example, there are multiple opportunities to explore your hobbies and even do such things as posting on social media or playing with an app called Chaotica that takes you around town on a series of challenges. With this game, we wanted you to have numerous opportunities to experience a student's life in a boarding school before we hit you with the huge changes related to the zombie outbreak. I