"The Walking Dead" zombie phenomenon has infected television viewers, readers and most importantly video gamers.
The comic provides just the right amount of action mixed with horror, while the television show keeps us glued to our seats on Sunday nights. Telltale's five-episode Walking Dead: Video Game tugged at our heartstrings and tried to rip out our jugular. While "The Walking Dead" seems like a no brainer to the media world now, it wasn't always that way, according to creator Robert Kirkman.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Kirkman discusses the creation of the comic book, the creation of Telltale's video game and the franchise's future in gaming. Kirkman said in the interview that he was so worried about the comics' potential cancelation that he rushed through the series first storyline that featured the character Shane Walsh.
"I had no confidence that The Walking Dead would survive past issue 12," Kirkman said. "So I crammed a bunch of story into the first issues. I blew through that Shane storyline in the first six issues because I didn't know if the book was going to last."
He also says that when it came to Telltale making a video game based on the comic he was impressed with the developers' ability to tell a good story.
"I thought they were more focused on telling a good story, and I thought they were good at engaging the player in the narrative," Kirkman said. "That's what interested me in making a Walking Dead game."
He also like Telltale's proposition of making the game less action oriented and more focused on the consequences that come with each decision made in the dangerous world of "The Walking Dead.
"They came to me with a proposal that involved decision-making and consequences rather than ammunition gathering or jumping over things," Kirkman said. "I was impressed by that. The only thing that's really special about The Walking Dead is the human characters and the narrative that they exist in."
Kirkman explained that while he was involved in the creation of the video game, he had a Godfather-like approach. He let Telltale create the game, but gave insight on what "The Walking Dead" universe is about.
"I don't really know the world of video games as much as they do," Kirkman said. "I don't know what works and what doesn't work, so I've been kind of the godfather, saying, 'this is what The Walking Dead is about and this is what I think is its secret.' Then they turn all that stuff into a video game. I've been kind of hands-off, but I'm impressed with the brilliant storytelling and with how good this game has turned out, which is really a testament to how talented their writers are."
In the interview he also says that he is not involved with the upcoming Walking Dead video game by Activision. He says the Activision game is based on the television series and is collaboration between the AMC and the game publisher.
"That's actually something that AMC is heading up and it's based on the television show," Kirkman said. "I'm not as involved because that's their thing. I'm looking at stuff. I'm aware of its existence. I know Activision is working very hard to make a cool-looking game and I'm hopeful it will be something that is worthy of the Walking Dead brand."
You can check out the full interview at Game Informer here and check out our review round-up for the Walking Dead: Video Game's episode five here.