We had the opportunity to speak with Darren McGrath of Canadian studio, InLight Entertainment, about his new DS game…
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CO: Firstly please can you tell us a little about yourself and your role in this project?

DMC: My name is Darren McGrath. I’m the VP of Creative Development and one of the partners here at InLight Entertainment.

CO: In spite of the zombies of the title, Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys! Isn’t a dark and gory horror game is it? Tell us more.

DMC: It’s a comic twist on the horror and sci-fi genres that were popular in the 40’s and 50s. And while there’s nothing really very horrifying, it is quite funny. I think that in their day, zombie films were considered very scary, even a little taboo. Today the genre has shifted to include a high level of comedy. The cartoon styled characters and the comic book presentation really help get that tone change across.

CO: How does the game make use of the DS’s unique capabilities?

DMC: This title is a perfect fit for the DS. The characters, story and the puzzle based nature of the games are really consistent with the control mechanisms of the hardware itself. We also make very good use of the stylus in the between comic Stylus Mini-games and the BBC (Big Brain Challenge). For example, one of the games lets the Player sling-shot one of the zombies, Lefty, into the air to smash alien brains and feed her cohort Fins. In another mini-game, Lefty, a former basketball player, shoots hoops using brains instead of balls! While both use the stylus the play patterns are quite different. So I’d say that it was pretty well balanced from a hardware input standpoint.

CO: What genre would you place the game in?

DMC: The game encompasses a variety of different genres – Mini-games, puzzles, platformer but I suppose that at its core it’s an adventure game based on the story/comic book aspects.

CO: Can you tell us a little about the story and the characters?

DMC: The Earth is under invasion by a horde of Alien Brain… uh… Thingys! Humans, having succumbed to ray guns, mind-control, and shiny flying saucers, have failed to defend their planet and 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, the undead Zombie trio ignore 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!

Now, the zombies themselves (Fins, Lefty and Half-Pipe) each have unique attributes that are also leveraged through their power-ups within the game. Very quickly the Player learns the idea that each zombie is best suited for different things so swapping becomes second nature. The power-ups that are encountered are specific to each of the zombies. Fire puke, a vacuum cleaner, and HUGE skateboard wheels are a just few of the power-ups – I don’t want to give too much away or I’ll take the fun out of it!

CO: What is your primary target audience?

DMC: This is going to be really popular with Players around 8 to 15 years – especially if they have a sense of humor! ; ) Although I’ve seen plenty of adult players enjoying this game too.

CO: Will there be lots to do in the game?

DMC: Absolutely! There are many different components featured within the game. A puzzle based platformer, swapping zombies, assembling your own zombie, mini-games, micro-games, all wrapped in a comic book story.

CO: Are you a fan of zombies? If so what do you like about them?

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 stuff I’m sure. 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. We’ve got a terrific group of artists here at InLight! We did hundreds of variations on the characters before settling on the current line-up. I think that the characters are really terrific – they certainly stike a chord with everyone who sees them!

CO: Finally, would you like to add anything at all?

DMC: thanks for the opportunity to talk about our game. We’re really excited about it!_____________________________________________________________

Thanks to Darren McGrath for answering our questions and Ignition for making sure that the said questions got to him.

Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingies! is scheduled to be published by Ignition Entertainment in March 2008!