Dead Matter is the definitive zombie survival game. Players must fight to survive in a zombie packed, post-apocalyptic world that fosters whichever playstyle fits you best. Settle down and defend your home from outside threats with an expansive crafting and barricading system, cultivate and live off the land or branch out, explore, and scavenge whatever vehicles, weapons, and food you may find in a zombie-plagued Calgary - alone, or with your friends.
Beginning as a mod in early 2012, before hitting a public release in January of 2013, Dead Matter is very much a long-time passion project for us. Suggestions, feedback, and discussion is very much welcome, as we aim to provide our players with the absolute best experience that we possibly can and to us, that means working alongside the community.
Being part of a very small team means that we, as developers, understandably have a lot on our plate and much of what you see here is the result of our team's unparalleled work ethic demonstrated through many months of extreme dedication and hard effort, even when some team members were working as a hobby project aside from their regular jobs. We believe nothing is impossible when the right amount of effort is applied, and we know that the final release will reflect that.
The nature of game development means that, through time, many features and plans may be scrapped or changed. Though nothing we've posted here is necessarily final, we do have a short list of some of our planned features and some of which are already fully integrated and interconnected.
Check them out below.
Multiplayer
A truly open-world game wouldn't be complete without the ability to join up with your friends and combine your skills to increase your chances of survival. This has been supported (and implemented) since development began in March.
Crafting
Crafting your own gear and upgrades is a natural extension of a true survivalist's skills, and we want to reflect that in the game. Check out the screenshots for a small taste at some of the stuff you can build ingame for your weapons!
Zombie AI
An obvious necessity. To rival the greats, our zombie AI system has been developed at its core to efficiently handle and support massive hordes of zombies, as seen in our demonstration video. Though we're not even close to done, and plan to constantly work on and improve this system so we can deliver higher amounts of better zombies on screen without killing server or client performance.
Day/Night Cycle
We have a fully dynamic day/night cycle.
Electrical System
One of our earliest planned features. Electricity is a core part of modern life, and the beginning of the zombie apocalypse should reflect that. Our robust electrical system enables you to fully power your home, opening up many gameplay options; from the typical minutia of turning lights on and off, to permitting the usage of power tools to enhance your crafting and upgrades. Though nothing this good lasts forever, and bad luck and poor planning could leave you with dead equipment when things go south.
Hunger & Thirst
Food and drinks. You'll need lots of them to survive. From rummaging through shelves, stores, bunkers, and buildings, to hunting fauna and farming your own fruits and vegetables, you'll have to do what you can to stay healthy - even if that means setting up barrels to collect rainwater.
Hunting
Finding, chasing, killing, and skinning the wildlife of Alberta for their fur and meat. We've tooled hunting to feel satisfying and fun for when you finally track down that buck you've had your eye on.
Medical System
When your hunger and thirst increases, your vulnerability to disease raises with it.
Trauma must be dealt with, individual limbs must be taken care of as there are many unique afflictions that they may fall to. When you're with your friends, a dedicated doctor is a must-have.
Farming
We've create an indepth farming system that takes advantage of a variety of tools that all serve a variety of purposes. There are a huge amount of items that you can use in your farming, and the more crafting-inclined can rig devices to improve speed and yield.
