The latest entry in our interview series Why You Should Back: Zombie Puppies on Kickstarter. We spoke with creators and got information about their new launch. This strategic battle card game that satisfies your love for puppies and zombies with a dose of the 80s brings lots of interesting action in both the theme and gameplay departments. The Kickstarter launch date is February 24, 2022. Check out the link below to go directly to The Zombie Puppies Kickstarter page or continue on to read the interview with the creators.
Zombie Puppies on Kickstarter
1. How would you describe your product in a few sentences?
The story: An ebola research lab in Luanda, Angola in the 1980s. Through unfortunate chained circumstances (a professor, a snail and a cat are said to have been involved), a deadly virus breaks out, infecting only cute puppy dogs and mutating them into zombies! Zombie Puppies is a quick and easy to play, strategic battle card game that consists of infection cards, healing cards and action cards. And the holy grail of the antidote! It was created to bring people together to have fun at one table, no matter what language they speak. Attack or research – choose the right strategy to save your poor puppy from the zombie virus.
2. Introduce the team bringing this to market? What is your background that brought you to launching this?
We are Lana Lutz (33) and Nikolas Reichardt (30), the two founders behind Zombie Puppies. We have been working as freelancers in creative and analytical positions for years now and wanted to create something, not for a customer but a community.
Lana is working as a product designer, while Nikolas is an online marketer. Right before Corona started, Lana had the idea to create a game on her own because as a product designer, she always wanted to design something completely from scratch and bring it to the market. She thought it would be a great opportunity to start a project with friends and create something that would bring joy to many people, while also having fun during development.
Nikolas grew up in a family where the board and card games, besides having dinner together, played an important role in keeping the family together. That’s why we wanted to minimize boundaries such as text to make this game playable with different cultures and players from all over the world together on one table. Diving into a limitless world was the biggest point that motivated us to create and independently publish this card game. For 1 ½ years, we have been prototyping this game, bringing it to a point where we couldn’t hear any negative feedback from players anymore. It is finally loved and connecting people – despite being a battle card game.
3. What existing games would you compare your game to?
We both love a good strategy game like Catan or Risk because they awaken the fighting spirit and you can actually influence the gameplay a lot. In the end you would want to play for revenge. With Zombie Puppies we tried to implement this but in a very simplified version so you do not have to read endless rulebooks.
This is the same reason why sometimes when playing with people that are not regular gamers we would go for an easy and fast paced game like Uno or Halli Galli. These games tend to heat up the atmosphere really quickly and are suitable for everyone. You need a good portion of luck to win them and we implemented this as well to balance out the strategic parts.
4. What sets your game apart?
The aim was to create a card game that:
- is easy to learn and family-friendly
- can be played in any language
- requires strategic thinking
By combining these aspects you can play it with a very diverse group of people and still have a lot of fun. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, experienced or new to the game or if you love or hate puppies.
Also, as far as we know this is one of the probably very few battle games that is this easy to learn and quick to play. We simply wanted to have the fun part without a long learning and preparation phase. In the end, we decided to go with an 80s theme and colors because back then so many great games and songs were created.
5. How can everyone be assured that they are going to get quality components and you are going to deliver on all the promises you are making?
We have to admit this is our first card game but Lana is a designer and already experienced with manufacturing and printing different kinds of products. In addition, Nikolas assessed dozens of products for his clients to come up with a way to communicate the experiences with the product. Since we are both keen on quality we decided to work with a manufacturer in Germany. So you can be sure to get a good ol’ “Made in Germany” high-quality game!
Honestly, we took it quite seriously to develop a game that is well-balanced and fun to play. To have all the hard work ruined by low-budget components or bad gameplay would not justify all the hard work we have put into this game for 1 ½ years and would not justify standing for this game with our names.
6. Why should someone back your project?
Because if we make 1 million dollars we will pay a shady research lab to create a zombie puppy and make it an IG star.
Afterward, we will go back to our gamedev caves and work on the next big thing to satisfy your gaming needs 💜
Seriously – you should back it if you like the idea. You will get a pawsome game that you and your family and friends will want to play again and again and again. 🥄
Well we are satisfied!
Great insight and enthusiasm from a passionate design team. This game looks fun, silly and unlike anything that has come before it. It has clearly been guided by passionate hands and looks like it is going to be a top-notch product. Take a look at their Kickstarter or website for more info!
