BUS: Bro u Survivedis an upcoming co-op zombie action game set on the mysterious location of Fang Island. While island settings can be popular for various genres of video games, much lesszombie franchises likeDead Island, it seems there is more to Fang Island than meets the eye. DespiteBUS: Bro u Survived’s vibrant and fun art style, it seems Fang Island has many mysteries for players to unravel on top of fixing the bus, looting resources, rescuing NPCs from zombies, and much more. Playable solo or with up to four other players through online co-op, it’s also a zombie apocalypse game that incorporates some neat-looking bus customization and base-building mechanics in what could be the ultimate zombie apocalypse road trip.
Game Rant recently sat down with Matthew Tkachev, Head and Founder of Herbarium Games (translated by Herbarium designer John) to learn : Bro u Survived’s Fang Island setting, including its residents and locations. WhileBUS: Bro u Survivedlooks set to offer a potentially rather unique slant on the traditional zombie apocalypse game, Tkachev also talked about its various gaming inspirations and much more.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
BUS: Bro u Survived Gaming Inspirations
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the game?
A:I really likecooperative games; we play them a lot. We wanted to make a cooperative game of our own with our rules and our game mechanics, and embark on a journey together. I always wanted to make a game in a zombie apocalypse setting, but I didn’t want to make it like most other games do—a grim setting where everything’s very dark. I wanted to make a different type of game that was vibrant and fun and the core aspect being overcoming challenges cooperatively together with your friends.
Q: Did you have any video game inspirations at all from zombies or other video games?
A:I really like the art of Josef Fares, the author ofIt Takes TwoandA Way Out. We also play a lot ofgames likeRaftandDeep Rock Galactic. We wanted to make a similar experience there.
Q: Were there any specific inspirations fromDeep Rock Galacticfor the game mechanics?
A:Direct inspirations from other games—we didn’t copy the mechanics. For example, in our game, the feeling of taking items and throwing them between each other is very tactile. The gameMoving Outwas a big inspiration for that. In our game, there are many situations when you’re very stressed for time and people are trying to hold as many things as they can in their hands and throw them onto the bus.
Co-op Gameplay in BUS: Bro u Survived
Q: Could you talk about how players work together to overcome these challenges and problems on the road?
A:Heavy items are best carried with a friend. It’s often easier to assign roles to your friends. For example, one can drive a bus and the other can fight off the zombies jumping on it.
Sometimes there arelogic puzzleson the way that you have to solve together, often to make things that are fun for cooperative playstyles and can be used in unconventional ways. We have a saddle that one person can wear, then the other person can try it on top of the guy in the saddle, and then he has a better viewing angle and can shoot all over the place. We have many items like this in our game.
I imagine it can get quite chaotic with the zombies attacking as well when you’re trying to do these tasks.
A:Yes, and here again, with our topic being all this mayhem, chaos, and fun going on in the game. The story is not stereotypically very grim, dark, and serious [like other zombie games], but we try to make it fun.
The Setting of Fang Island in BUS: Bro u Survived
Q: Could you talk about the setting of Fang Island, its size, and its residents?
A:It’s a fictional island located somewhere in the real world, but we won’t say where. There are clues in the game. There is a government on this island called Fang also. It’s authoritarian, and it’s under the control of General Mar.
The island is very isolated from the outside world. That’s why it has a very vibrantculture and unique customs, traditions, and unique technologies that they don’t share with the outside world. Also, because people live isolated and away from everything else, they recycle a lot. They tinker a lot with machinery, mechanics, and everything else, and many things come out of this.
In general, on this island, people tend to live in cities, but there are also tribal villages where the native people live. They also have very traditions and customs. They are very mysterious, and we won’t spoil a lot, but they are very important. The game will be pressed between a hammer and an anvil between the zombie apocalypse and the authoritarian regime.
Q: Could you talk about some of the stops and locations players can expect to find as they explore?
A:We go all over the island. We’ll see the cities, we’ll see the tribes, deserts, and rocks. The game is based on missions, and missions will travel all over the island. We’ll go to cities, villages, laboratories—lots of varied environments. During those missions, we will uncover more and more of themysteriesof the island.
There’s a big emphasis on storytelling in the game, and I think we’re making a unique zombie-based story because we can say for sure that there is no zombie-based story that is similar to ours. Perhaps maybe players will willingly join the zombies in the end. Who knows?
Bus Customization in BUS: Bro u Survived
Q: Can you talk about how players customize the bus into a fighting machine?
A:The technology in the game is pretty insane. For example, in the demo, we showed how we rescued the main mechanic Lou and she had her own giant fighting hand. Don’t expect basic bus customization. We showed that in our promotional materials on social media. We want to give players the freedom to create their own crazy bus. For example, you can add 10 wheels to a bus. You can do that if you want—why not?
We are certain that every player will have their own bus with their own decals, details, colors, and upgrades. Perhaps someone will be able to transform the bus into a battle robot.
BUS: Bro u Survived’s Base-Building Mechanics
Q: There are some unique building mechanics as well. Could you talk about those?
A:Our players are based on a location, on a base, and there’s a person who curates our own squad. It is the highest mountain on theislandand the guys are hiding away from the regime there—the most hidden place. Every building you create is foldable, so it can unfold into a giant building and it can unfold into a small one. We created unique, interesting animations and meshes with lots of ideas. How fun would it be to collapse a tent or something, or a research table into a small package and then what should unfold?
During missions, we can rescue other NPCs, and then they’ll work on these buildings on our base. On the base, we can unlock bus customization. We can research new technologies, new weapons, upgrades, new buildings—everything like that. Sometimes it goes in an interesting direction. At some point, we’ll be able to build a vacuum artillery that will help us fight off zombies in the vehicle. You build it in your base, and it will be useful in a mission.
Q: Why did you choose the folding and unfolding mechanics? Is it perhaps so players can take them with them, or so players could see how they work?
A:It’s often in cooperative games where one player builds something and the other players just stand and watch. In this game, for example, you set the building to be unfolded when it’s fixed. You can see your friend is hauling a tent somewhere that you don’t want. You don’t want the tent to be there, and you go to him and grab the tent and go the other direction and say, “Friends, come on. Help me. The tent should be the other way.”
Just like with other items in the game, you may throw them around and toss them to other players. It’s a very tactilebase-buildingexperience where you can grab the building and physically move it somewhere else. In other games, it’s usually done through lots of UI interfaces. We wanted to make it visceral.
Q: How much can players expand their base compared to the bus?
A:We have about 20 NPCs working on the base. The base is a place where you can go and unwind after a hard mission. The base, from an emergency shelter with a tent and a campfire, will grow into a small settlement.
Zombie Variants and Designs in BUS: Bro u Survived
Q: What kind of zombie variants can players find?
A:The virus can turn not only humans intozombiesbut also animals. We made many different zombie designs from the regular zombies that you saw in the demo; special zombies, like the big and armored ones, and the exploding zombies.
We hinted at it in the demo, but sometimes the zombie virus in our game doesn’t turn people into mindless zombies. You get superpowers from being beaten by zombies sometimes. People in general are turning into mindless, more-or-less classic zombies, but sometimes they don’t and, on the contrary, get superpowers and sharpen their senses. This will be explained later on in the story through different interesting encounters. We are planning to gradually integrate superpowers for players to explore.
Q: Were there any inspirations for the zombie designs?
A:We wanted to make zombies not scary but intimidating. In the beginning, we made zombies way too cute, and people wouldn’t hit them [laughs].
The zombie designs—I think they’ll be unique. There are zombies with tentacles, zombies with armor, zombies with cones on their heads; I think they are very caricature-like. They look similar tozombies inPlants vs Zombies.
Solo vs. Co-op Gameplay and Zombie Storytelling in BUS: Bro u Survived
Q: How difficult is the game playing solo versus co-op?
A:The gameplay will be different for solo players because the game is focused on cooperative play, but the single-player experience is just a little bit different. We will, for example, adjust the puzzles so it will be playable by only one person, but it will still be quite fun. The mission adjusts based on how many players, I think.
Q: You mentioned you have a unique zombie story. Is that how you feel the game stands out compared to other zombie games out there?
A:Yes, because games need to surprise. Everyone is used to zombies being evil and scary and all that. Players will doubt these assumptions in our game and, yes, we really do stand out from otherzombie games. For example, right now on Steam, if you see zombie games at the festival, only our game has this sort of art style and colors.
BUS: Bro u Survived at Steam Next Fest
Q: What are you most excited for players to learn about the game during Steam Next Fest?
A:We told the basic story of our game, so they would get acquainted with it and wait for the release of the game. We didn’t expect that much feedback from our game. Our inbox is overflowing with feedback on the game, and also our Discord server is coming to life bit by bit. We are really listening to them all and answering where we can. We are more than happy with the results of this Fest.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add or share with our readers?
A:We’re very happy with the attention our game is getting and my biggest dream is that we can unite people together, unite friends that can find each other and say, “Let’s go playBUStogether.”
We can also share an interesting story about the game’s title. We were brainstorming in our company. Everyone was encouraged to submit the game title, and there was a giant list of names proposed. There was a tournament, too. Many players say that our title is quite dumb [laughs].
Inside the wall of the game, it is the title that the boss gave to the team of players because they arrived on a bus. He said he thought it would be a good mix, and he’s trying to fit the bus into a sentence that would be most perfect for the players—and the title for the game isBUS: Bro u Survived.
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BUS: Bro u Survivedis due for release in 2024 for PC.
