Whooo! The Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville Kickstarter campaign is 50% funded after only 3 days! You guys are amazing. :) To celebrate, I’m announcing the project’s first stretch goal: 3 Extra Gangs! These NPC factions will sometimes appear in the city with you. Some are easy going and will help you out so long as you don’t scavenge all the best stuff near their fort. Other factions are… not so nice. Let me introduce you:

The Granville Riffs

Ever seen the cult 70’s movie The Warriors? Well I was a little drunk when I did (it helps) but afterward I couldn’t get it out of my head. This faction is a play on the Gramercy Riffs, a badass gang of tall black karate dudes with mirrored shades. They value discipline, have a strict code of ethics and take a little too much joy in killing zombies with katanas and well-placed roundhouse kicks. You can hire them as mercenaries once you prove your honor.

The Last Judgement Gang

These guys are just the opposite of the Riffs, and the two are always at eachother’s throats. The Judgement are a good old fashioned Hells Angels type biker gang, except… they dress like catholic priests. They’re all fire-and-brimstone and set to cleanse the world of zombie and human alike. If you’re alive, you’re probably a sinner, and that’s all the excuse they need to roll in and raid your fort.

The Luddies

Part hippie, part luddite, these vegan farmers live off the land, and are so much happier now that civilization has collapsed and they can take off their tinfoil hats: there are no more radio, tv and wifi waves flying around to cook their brains or control their thoughts anymore. You’ll clash with these guys if you’re truly intent on bringing back the evils of technology.

Church of the Chosen Ones

Another callback to Rebuild 2/Mobile, this zombie-worshipping cult have formed their own fort in this game. You could say they’re a little eccentric but mostly harmless… or are they? If their infectuous new religion takes root among your own survivors, watch out – because the ultimate goal of any Church follower is to join the “Chosen Ones” and become a zombie themselves.

St Micheal’s School for Boys

Still living in their former boarding school, this gang of kids is lead by a 16 year old (Rufio! Rufio!) who is the oldest of them because he was held back a year for bad behavior. But it’s not quite Lord of the Flies over there yet, and they get by on their ability to sneak, hide and steal.

The Pig Farmers

I introduced these guys in the Rebuild Mobile winter update. Avid meat merchants, they’ve got all these cuts of pork to trade at surprisingly good prices. Well, that is kind of a funny color for pork, and it does taste a little odd, but hey beggars can’t be choosers, right? They really don’t like people snooping around their pig farm and will shoot at anybody who gets too close. Everybody’s got a right to privacy, right?

The Government

These beurocrats are the last remnants of the actual local government. They claim to have contact with a central organization via a secret government network, and are under orders to regain control of the area and will mercilessly comondeer any supplies they need to do that.

The Rotten

Not all zombies are alike; in fact some of them manage to keep their wits about them, more or less. Unfortunately they still look and smell like rotting walking corpses, so most of them get shot on sight by humans. But a few have moved underground and are living a marginal life, hoping someday to find a cure for their illness.

Stretch Goal Factions

Now for the stretch goal: if we make it to $35,000, I’ll be able to add 3 more factions to the mix. These guys are more than just names & faces: each faction comes with a bunch of new random events and at least one major plotline that involves them. Stephen’s been coming up with some great storylines that I’m eager to see play out.

1337cREw (stretch goal)

These gamers had gathered together for an epic lan party on the night the zombie infection reached their town. They didn’t even notice the dead roming the streets outside until the Internet finally went down. Now they quest to get it back online.

The Pharmacists (stretch goal)

Drug dealers, anarchists, hipsters. This gang is in it for the money and not too concerned if a few people get hurt in the process. They’re makers of the hot new drug Bath Salts, which makes you feel strong and fearless but is terribly addictive.

The Suffragettes (stretch goal)

These women have had enough of a male-dominated society putting them in second place, and don’t think you need “superior upper body strength” to kill zombies or do what it takes to survive. Tired of being told to do the laundry (have you seen the The Walking Dead?), they’ve got big plans for a brave new world.

We’re nearing the start of the Rebuild 3 Kickstarter on October 1st! Here’s a sneak preview of yours truly in the campaign video:

I think I sum up the game nicely: “Rebuild is a game about Rebuildenating. Click on things… and then you win”. I may have had too much sun that day.

One of the art pieces I’ll be showing off in the Rebuild 3 Kickstarter campaign is this illustration Adam did for the main menu:

You can see his process here with this timelapse:

Wallpaper versions: 1920×1200 1920×1080 1680×1050 1440×900 1366×768

We’re adding another artist to Team Rebuild 3: Sara Gross (aka Two Bit Art). She worked with me last winter on Word Up Dog, my whimsical hiphop spelling game that nobody played and whatever, I know y’all are just here for the zombies.

Sara will be working under direction from me & lead artist Adam Meyer, starting with illustrations for the copious random and not-so-random events of Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville. Here are a few samples from the new game:

It won’t all be bunnies and happyfuntimes I assure you. Yes, there will be blood.

Sara’s best known for unfinished indie games and her beautiful webcomic Menagerie. You can follow Sara on twitter, check out her sweet draws on tumblr and occasionally you can even watch her live while she draws Rebuild 3 characters.

It’s a delight every time I add a new piece of Adam’s art to the game. Today the new survivor “coins” got a makeover. In Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville you’ll be able to start missions by dragging and dropping these little portraits instead of scrolling through the long list of survivors.

After watching the newest edition of Anita Sarkeesian’s Tropes vs Women in Video Games I am acutely aware of the lack of female characters in the current build. The survivors are a bunch of strong-jawed white dudes right now (well, except that one guy with the face mask), but rest assured there will be diversity.

Adam’s getting started on the women just in time. Here he is sketching one of the possible sets of features and clothes for the new “tall and strong yet still feminine” body:

Next he’ll trace over the whole thing in Illustrator and add color. Like the men, there will be 3 female body types in Rebuild 3: the hungry waif, the buff & curvy, and my personal favorite the “big momma”. No doubt she has the best scavenging skills of the three and I can imagine her kicking ass with some sort of BFG or flamethrower.

Adam’s been busy making mix & matchable characters for Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville. They remind me of the digital kisekae dolls I used to collect. We’ll have thousands of unique survivors by the time he’s through, from cops to road warriors to half-starved hipsters and every hybrid thereof.

They’ll have unique personalities too: some are greedy, some lazy, others heroic or ridden with guilt. The longer you know them, the more their backstories will be revealed.

I’m adding a second inventory slot, so survivors will be able to equip both a weapon and a tool. I haven’t figured out which slot chainsaws go in yet…

The three male body types: skinny (does he look familiar?), bulky, and heavy. The third type will be rare – staying overweight during the zompocalypse isn’t easy, and you probably don’t want to know what they’ve been eating.