Can You Survive?: An Interview with Diege, Co-Founder of ZOS: Zombie Outbreak Survival
We sat down with this brazen Brit to discuss physical collectibles, Play to Earn, and how Tentree Studios are bringing the zombie apocalypse to WAX!
JANUARY 8, 2022. INTERVIEWS. WRITTEN BY HYDRO.
Ahhhh, zombies.
These hordes of reanimated dead have become a pop culture phenomenon in recent years, across gaming, film and TV.
With the rise of blockchain gaming, it was only a matter of time before a post-apocalyptic Play to Earn title hit the world’s busiest blockchain, and it would seem one has arrived with ZOS: Zombie Outbreak Survival.
I’ve been speaking to Co-Founder Diege for the last few weeks, and with their Pre-Sale today at 17 UTC, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to get the lowdown!
Head to the end of the interview for our free ZOS Interview Card, dropping next week!
Pssst… there’s three claim links hidden within this article. Happy hunting!
Hydro: Hey! Could you tell me a bit about yourself, your background and how you got into NFTs?
Diege: Hey! I’m Diege, I’m a Co-Founder of ZOS: Zombie Outbreak Survival, and I’ve always had a love for physical collectibles, such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!
I found WAX in 2020 when I saw a tweet about Deadmau5 releasing a collection of digital assets powered by crypto. I looked into it and bought some packs – I didn’t think too much of it at the time and forgot about them for a month. When I next logged in, I was shocked that they had risen in value, and I’ve been collecting on WAX ever since!
Tell us about ZOS – where did the idea come from, and what can the community look forward to?
Myself and my ZOS Co-Founding parter Lettos have both been collecting WAX NFTs for a long time, so that gave us a good bank of experience on what was out there.
We were chatting one day about what we liked and didn’t like about various projects, and began dreaming up what our perfect game on WAX would look like.
We began to play around with ideas on paper, and progressed to developing our own zombie game just for fun, but after working on it for some time, we realised we might actually have something good here. That’s when we decided to create a website, socials and whitepaper, and give it a proper go.
Fast forward to today, and we’re in our final preparations for our Pre-Sale this Saturday at 17 UTC!
What can buyers expect from your Pre-Sale on Saturday? How will these NFTs be used in ZOS?
We have 2 different type of packs in the Pre-Sale, Survivor Crates & Early-Survivor Crates.
Survivor Crates ($40 USD) will include 1 Survivor, 1 Weapon, 1 Shield and 2 Food items. Early Survivor Crates ($60) will include 2 Survivors, 2 Weapons, 2 Shields and 4 Food items.
Survivors are the main characters in ZOS; they’re the only asset that is not obtainable through playing the game. Weapons & Shields are the minimum equipment needed to carry our tasks in ZOS. Food is used to heal Survivors after they return home from a Supply Run.
The best opportunity to secure an Early Survivor Crate is to pick up an Early Survivor Pass from the secondary market!
Full details on the drop are available in our Discord.
What can the community look forward to in terms of gameplay?
The ZOS story is split into Eras. We are currently in Era Zero – this is the pre-game phase that allows for players to build out their collections by trading & buying/selling on the secondary markets after taking part in our initial drops.
The launch of the game will signify the end of Era Zero and the beginning of Era One.
Era One will bring Supply Runs. Players create load-outs – Survivor, Weapon & Shield combinations – to carry out these runs in an effort to find supplies; Food, Weapons and Shields.
The game will develop both in storyline and in content across the 6 Eras, meaning there’s always new experiences and harder challenges to conquer!
If you could compare the gameplay of ZOS to anything, what would you compare it to?
Both myself and Lettos are extremely avid gamers and we’ve been playing games our entire lives on a variety of different systems. We’ve built ZOS from a players perspective and we want to reflect that in the finished product.
It’s difficult to compare ZOS to anything, especially on the blockchain. We’re really pushing the boat out with what we aim to deliver during 2022 and our first 6 Eras.
How will the Play to Earn mechanics work within ZOS?
The balancing of our P2E economics and in-game economy is something we’ve spent a vast amount of time on.
Supply runs will reward the player in NFTs. The player can choose to trade, sell, or hold these NFTs.
Food NFTs, when consumed, will be burned, allowing the player to carry out more Supply Runs.
Players should think about collecting as many different weapons as possible to gather a varied arsenal for future, strategy-based game modes.
In future Eras – when we release buildings & the ‘seek refuge’ mechanic – we’ll be releasing resource tokens. These tokens will be used to apply upgrades to buildings through a really fun mechanic – which you can learn more about in our whitepaper.
We’ve developed a multi-layer economy for ZOS that will consist of earning, burning and learning. All types of players can be rewarded from playing ZOS – both active and passive. There really is something for everyone!
The art for ZOS is top-notch – could you tell us a bit about the design process, and how long they take to create?
We spend a long time designing, redesigning and signing off on each piece of art that makes the final cut.
We’re very passionate about how the artwork makes the player feel, and we believe that in the blockchain gaming space, one of the most important parts of any project is the design of the NFTs. The image allows players to connect with their assets in a much more meaningful way than by just holding a token.
All of the Survivors are unique – there are 2,000 Gustav’s, but no two are the same. This adds to the player experience by giving you a truly unique character in the game that you can grow a bond with. We hope it makes the players take the game more seriously as they won’t want their favourite character to die.
Due to this in-depth process, our artwork does take time, but our design team are fantastic and we have them working on future artwork constantly.
How many people are actively working on ZOS?
Currently we have a team of 7 working on ZOS, and are in the final stages of bringing in some more staff which will increase our team to 12.
What are your goals with ZOS for 2022?
We have many small, achievable goals planned out throughout 2022, all of which equate to the overall goal of producing a P2E experience that players enjoy playing and are proud to play.
In terms of our responsibility in the WAX ecosystem, our goal is to bring outside players into WAX, so that hopefully they’ll explore the space and find other great games such as Nova Rally, Beast Garden, Wrath of Tezca and others!
Speaking of other projects, what are your favourite collections on WAX?
My favourite collections on WAX are;
- Nova Rally – solid foundations with a fantastic leader
- Beast Garden – a mastermind of intelligent gameplay mechanics and balancing
- Wrath of Tezca – compelling artwork with beautiful gameplay
- Dragons Valley – a clicker that I enjoy, especially when I’m hatching my eggs!
- Oliveland – a great example of the unique utility of owning real life assets powered by NFTs
…and of course, being a huge geek and lover of physical collectibles, Funko!
You’ve worked with a lot of different projects on WAX to promote ZOS thus far. Are in-game collaborations something you are considering?
We’ve decided not to go down the route of traditional in-game collabs, as we have a very particular vision of the game and story and don’t want to compromise it.
However, we are working out-of-game on a bunch of great collaborations – one of these being Oliveland.
We’ll be visiting the Oliveland Farm in May 2022, and will be giving away a limited edition Survivor (which is Oliveland-themed) to anyone in attendance.
We’re also sponsoring the flights for one lucky giveaway winner too!
With the WAX-BSC bridge and ETH Virtual Machine penned for this year, are there any plans to take ZOS cross-chain?
Nothing is set in stone, but watch this space – everything is possible in crypto!
Is there anything you’d like to add? Anything you’d like to say directly to the reader?
I’d like to thank you Hydro for inviting me to do this interview and asking some great questions! (<3)
To the reader; I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this interview as much as I have answering the questions! Myself, Lettos and the rest of the team are extremely excited to bring the ZOS world to life and bring you with us on this fantastic journey.
We really have built ZOS from a players perspective and we hope it shows. We’re readily available in our Discord to answer any questions and listen to feedback. We’re building the game together as a community and we want that to be felt by the players.
It’s quick-fire time!
What fuels you?
Creating meaningful content and providing powerful experiences for people. We all go through tough times and gaming is often an escape for people. Hearing that my actions have positively impacted someone motivates me beyond anything else.
One unusual fact about you?
I have UK size 15 feet (US 16, EU 51).
If you could give one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t wait for tomorrow, start today!
You can invite three people, real or fictional, to dinner. Who do you choose?
Satoshi Nakamoto, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs.
What is your purpose in life?
To seek enjoyment in everything I do, including the hard stuff.
How can we follow you and your work?
As the drop time approaches (8th Jan, 17 UTC), the community hype has built up further and further, and the prices of the Early Survivor Passes reflect that. These have become highly sought after, and with the secondary market now the only place to grab 1 of the 500 passes available, those numbers continue to climb.
A zombie-based game is a welcome addition to the metaverses, arcade racers, trading card games and more that have found their home on WAX, and in ZOS, the community may have found a brand-new Play to Earn experience to fall for.
To mark this interview, we have our free ZOS Interview Card, dropping next week!
The Sanguine Survivalist
Collection: nftinsiderio
Max mint: 150 (1 reserved, 89 public, 30 OGs, 30 Promo Holders)
Drop price: Free!
Dropping: 11/01, 18:10 UTC!