HUMAN APOCALYPSE

Ahmed: Hey, my name is Faris Ahmed. I’m the developer of Human Apocalypse and yeah, I’m happy to be here. 

Taz: Awesome. So Faris, what game are you working on and what do you do in the process? 

Ahmed: I’m currently working on two games, actually. We kind of have this system of releasing a few games, a few free games, and then—we’re starting this system, it’s the first time we’re trying it. So yeah, a couple of free games just to test out new ideas. We have lots of ideas so we’re always releasing new games to test it out, see how people are gonna react to it, and then once we get a nice reaction, or we know what our strong points are, we kind of take that direction. For example, we released five games before this, all of them free. One of them’s adventure, two horror, one multiplayer, and one puzzle game. The adventure game got to the front page and it was very well received—the front page of Steam—and was very well received. And one of the two horror games was also very well received, so that’s why we kind of took that direction of a mix between adventure and horror, and that’s Human Apocalypse. And yeah, I’m the one working on Human Apocalypse. My brother is currently working on another horror free game testing another new idea. 

Taz: Awesome, that’s so cool. So give us a small summary of Human Apocalypse. 

Ahmed: Alright, so Human Apocalypse is kind of a different twist on the normal zombie stuff. You know, every zombie game you get thrown into a post-apocalyptic world—shoot the zombies, kill the humans, go get food, loot that house, get water, or whatever. This game, it’s set in a post-post apocalyptic world. So the zombie apocalypse has already happened, a cure has been found. All the zombies have been cured, they’re now perfectly normal humans again, except they still look like zombies, they’re still colored green. So yeah, it’s an adventure game. You play as one of those ex-zombies. You move to a new town, and it’s just exploring how life would be after the apocalypse as a zombie. 

Taz: I feel like it’s very interesting because you know, like you said, you see a lot of post-apocalypse genre in gaming, but I’ve never really seen a post-post apocalypse. What happens after we’ve kind of sort of fixed the world. And do you think that you were inspired by like, games and other types of media, shows and things like that? 

Ahmed: So this idea, I’ve had it for quite a long time. When I was a kid I was obsessed with zombie movies, but they all end up with the same thing: somehow the survivors end up on a rooftop, a helicopter comes from nowhere, saves them, happy ending, movie ends. But like, what happened? [laughs]

Taz: [laughs]

Ahmed: What happens after, you know? This virus [is] still there, the city is full of zombies, all that... and I haven’t found really any TV show or any movie that covers that topic, and I was like, all right, maybe I can tackle that one day. That was way long, long ago. And then Corona happened, you know, and you also can’t help but wonder, like Corona was, what, about a year and a half, two years ago? And we’re still wearing—like I’m here sitting in front of you wearing a mask. So you also can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen after this ends, and… Yeah, so when I was in quarantine, it kind of kicked this idea back into gear, you know? And yeah, now I’m working on it again. 

Taz: That’s awesome. If you can go back and begin again from scratch, would you change anything? If so, what would you change? 

Ahmed: Well, the game, it’s been in development for...you might not believe that it’s been in development for about two months. So, yeah, not really. So far it’s going pretty great. When I got the email from PAX that I was accepted into the PAX, then... like, before that it was very chill. I was just working on it in my free time whenever I feel like it, but then when I got the email, and now I need to have a playable demo ready, I kind of rushed. So all of that stuff that you see in the game and the playable demo and everything, all this was made in like, one month. So yeah, if I were to go back, I wouldn’t do that much differently. 

Taz: That’s crazy! Two months and you’re here at PAX? That’s crazy. That’s unbelievable. 

Ahmed: Yeah, it was definitely a shock when I got that email. But yeah. Also the style, how some of the mechanics of the game was very—as I mentioned I made five free games before, one of them adventure, one of them horror—so I kind of took some of those mechanics, some of the assets, the process I used to make the sprites and everything... So yeah, that definitely saved lots of time and it makes the process way faster. 

Taz: That’s awesome. What has been your favorite part of the development process? 

Ahmed: Probably the best part of the development process is seeing the finished product. When I’m testing the game, when I’m watching the trailer that I made. Also stuff like watching the translators, the community translators that I have. When I’m putting all, you know, like a whole script translated, listening to the lines the voice actors have recorded, watching other people play my game, like here at PAX... That’s definitely the best part.

Taz: That’s awesome. Kind of an off-script question: I see a lot of indie games, you know, they have voice actors, they don’t have voice actors... Did you have—Did you hire people? Did you have like, your friends voice act? What was the process on that? 

Ahmed: So when I was making my first game, my first kind of big game—the adventure one that I mentioned that hit the front page of Steam—I was just sitting on my couch one day and then I’m like, OK, what if I tweet? What if, maybe adding voice actors to this game, since it's an adventure game, it might be better. And then I just tweeted randomly: “I’m thinking of adding voice actors to my game. This is the link to my game. Would anyone… What do you guys think of this idea?” And that tweet, obviously it didn’t go viral, but it kind of went viral in the voice acting community, and I got tons of auditions. I didn’t even have a script by then or a casting call by then. But I got lots of people emailing me, they were like, “Yeah, we’d be happy to help.” And yeah, I got like eight of them to help me with that adventure game, and since then I’ve been adding voice acting in every single game. It just, it takes the game to another level, especially if there’s lots of text and it relies on narrative, you know? 

Taz: For sure, for sure, and I love— I do prefer voice-acted games ’cause it allows me to watch it as it’s going as opposed to like, you know, reading some things. You know, people like their different stuff, but I definitely prefer it ’cause I, you know, when I stream games, I just start reading it out loud, and then I start to yawn—not because of the story, but because I forget to breathe ’cause I’m reading so much. So it’s nice to have voice acting. I was able to play the demo and the voice acting was solid. It was all like...like, for what the demo had, it was solid, it was great. And last question: is there anything else you want us to know about your game. 

Ahmed: Uh, so… Not really. The game, I’m currently working on it. I have school starting soon—I’m 19 by the way. My brother is 18, so we have to balance school with it. But we’re aiming for a release in late—I mean early 2022. Yeah, and that’s that’s pretty much it. I’m working on it. Just gotta balance school. 

Taz: For sure, for sure. That’s awesome.