July 31, 2010: Zombie Dice App On Sale Now!

The Zombie Dice app for iPhone is now in the App Store! (Download it here!) And it's bargain priced: it's free.

You get the exact same play as in a two-person Zombie Dice game; it's you vs. a computer-controlled zombie, each trying to eat 13 brains and win. The zombie AI is, WE HOPE, not as smart as you. But it will give you a run for your money, and gloat when it rolls well, and heckle you and give you bad advice, and say "Braaaaainnns" a lot.

And if you like the free version, we will happily sell you a 99-cent upgrade that lets you include up to 8 players, by passing around the phone. The full version also has more animations and a setting that makes the zombies smarter. Still not really as smart as you, WE HOPE.

I now have a tiny sense of what it's like to be a "producer" on a digital game. And I know that if we go much farther, I'll have to hire a real, full-time producer. But this has been the most interesting thing I've done recently.

This took more and different talents than a physical game, and some really amazing work went into it. I am not a humble person, but it's humbling to look at this and realize all the talents that went into the digital version of my silly little zombie game . .

• Kira Hamilton's code
• Justin De Witt's graphic design
• Alex Fernandez' art
• Will Schoonover's voice and SFX
• Tom Smith's music, err, noise. (Honest! He wanted to be credited for "Background Noise.")
• And excellent bugfinding by Steven Marsh and Bob Hood!

I hope you like this. Please try it out, tell your friends about it, and send us 99 cents for the full version if you think the freebie is fun! Because I would really, really like to do more of these.

-- Steve Jackson

(Late update! As of 11:10pm Friday night, it's the #11 free dice game in the App Store – apparently, just on word spread via Twitter.)