We recently had the opportunity to chat to Darren McGrath, the VP Creative Director for InLight Entertainment regarding a game they are currently developing called Teenage Zombies for the Nintendo DS.

123eire: Please could you tell our readers a little bit about your background in the gaming industry, and your involvement in the making of ‘Teenage Zombies’?

DMC: InLight Entertainment was incorporate in 2002. Most of our group worked together at Disney for a number of years (about 7 actually) and have a great deal of experience working with some pretty high profile characters and properties. Applying the same sensibilities to our own stories and characters was a fairly natural progression within our studios development cycle.

123eire: Having witnessed the short teaser released on the games website it is easy to see that you are giving little away in terms of plot. Are we to assume the game is based on its 1959 movie namesake, in which “a crazed female scientist uses nerve gas to turn local teenagers into her unquestioning slaves”?

DMC: (Ha, ha I remember that…) No. Our story and characters are actually based on an original idea. The Earth is under invasion by a horde of Alien Brain Thingys! The humans, having succumbed to ray guns and mind-control have failed to defend the planet and have let it fall into the clutches of the Big Brain and his army hordes!

The only hope for mankind is three Teenage Zombies that have arisen from a nearby graveyard. Disturbed by the alien invasion, he undead Zombie trio ignores their usual human victims in favor of the pulsing pink brains - all the while being lured to the ultimate lunch: THE BIG BRAIN!

The Big Brain soon realizes that he’s overlooked this Zombie super-race that inexplicably resist all of his usual defenses and devour his Brain Armies! Somewhat flustered by this unprecedented turn of events, the Big Brain refocuses his efforts and resources to battle the Earth’s greatest champions: The Teenage Zombies!

123eire: Where did the idea for this game come from, do you feel there is a gap in the market for this type of game to be successful?

DMC: I’ve always loved horror and sci-fi movies – my grandma would always take us to the “Creature Features” on Saturday afternoon. 5 movies for a buck! Lots of Roger Corman, William Castle and George Romero. I even saw a very hacked up version of Four Flies on Grey Velvet – although I don’t think that I would have known it was Dario Argento at the time. Some were terrific and others were just terrible. What really stuck with me was that some of those unintentionally bad movies can be just as fun as the good ones! Giving a comic book twist to the campy B-movie genre felt like a great starting point for our Teenage Zombies title.

123eire: Who is the game actually aimed at. Is it a broadly-spectrumed game for all ages as Nintendo are increasingly being orientated at or is it more acutely aimed at lets say…. teenagers?

DMC: We’re hoping that it will appeal to a broad audience although the campy humor and characters will probably strike a chord with those 10 and older. In terms of the actual target audience for this title, I think that with the story, characters and gameplay, we really hit the nail on the head. Because of the puzzle based aspects of this game and its humor, it will also appeal to an older demographic as well.

123eire: How does the game actually play? Is it a space invadersesque scrolling style, or is it a screen loading basis…. or is it something entirely new altogether?

DMC: The platformer itself, is chiefly puzzle based. As such, the platform aspect of it is more of an adventure – consisting of exploring the environment and figuring out ways to get from point A to B while smashing and eating Alien Brain Thingys. I addition there are over 30 gorgeous comic book pages to read, 8 mini-games and the Big Brain Challenge collection of micro-games. All of these elements are encountered during the platform game and move the story forward. That said, the platform game itself is atypical in that you have the ability to switch between different zombies at anytime to achieve your goals.

123eire: Can you tell us how a typical level pans out. What are we likely to get up to. What can we expect? Humorous antics, rapid button bashing? Both?

DMC: Both – and then some! Immediately upon launching the game, an intro plays. It’s presented in a comic book fashion and introduces the Player to the characters and story setup. The cool thing is that you can turn your DS sideways – you read the comics like you would a book. The basic premise is that the Big Brain and his cohort No.1 are devising a plan to deal with these super-human zombies that are thwarting their invasion.

Following the comic intro, you turn your DS back to the proper orientation and begin to explore your environment – but as a zombie. (We thought that it was an interesting twist to PLAY a zombie rather than most games where you KILL zombies.) Switching between the zombies (by touching them in their crypts on the touch screen) becomes necessary to use their unique abilities to get by lots of obstacles and crush Brains most effectively. Once you’ve become fluent with the navigation/control of the zombies you’ll eventually happen upon one of my favorite enemies - an impassible cluster of mutant rats. After several failed attempts trying to take the rats head on, you encounter a pile of discarded spicy food that Fins (one of the zombies), eagerly eats up. This spicy food proves too much for Fins’ stomach and he pukes… FIRE! Fortunately Mutant Rats are very flammable! This is a really fun powerup that lets you pass through the Mutant Rats with ease.

Several other areas involve different power-ups or combinations of power-ups. Eventually you arrive at a Stylus icon. This takes you directly to one of the mini-games. Here, the comic book narrator tells you to get ready for a Stylus mini-game! In one mini-game example, the Player uses his stylus to pull back on some power lines to shoot your rag-doll zombie up into the top screen to crush the floating Alien Brains that hover above. As pieces of brains fall down into the power line, you must quickly fling them back again - this time into the hungry mouth of one of the zombies. When time runs out, you’re given a score, and you find yourself back in the platformer on the other side of the powerlines. During this level you’ve earned enough points to get the Big Brains attention. He suddenly appears full-screen enraged that you, the player, think you’re smarter than him for helping the Teenage Zombies. Thus, he challenges you to a mental duel! Now you’re playing a quick brain-driven succession of micro games to hopefully defeat the Big Brain’s intelligence! After this exhausting bout you’re back to more comics and more diabolical scheming before it’s on to the next location.

123eire: That said, have you any sequels planned?

DMC: Yes wii’re definitely in talks about a sequel. : )

123eire: Having previously been a series of smaller studios, how has going under the umbrella of Ignition Entertainment affected and hopefully improved your approach to computer games development.

DMC: We’ve really enjoyed working with the group at Ignition and are looking forward to working on future titles together. They’ve been very supportive of our ideas and the property as a whole right from the start!

123eire: On your website you state that it is your aim to “push far beyond the confines of conventional ‘next-gen’ thinking to produce unique” gaming experiences. Do you think that with this game, you are achieving it?

DMC: I think that this game does a great job of combining genres (horror and sci-fi, puzzle and mini-game, side-scroller and adventure) all wrapped in a comic book styled presentation. It’s very unique!

Teenage Zombies is currently scheduled for a release in Spring 2008. Stay tuned to WiiDS.co.uk for more information on what sounds like a fantastic game.