Death Road to Canada an indie game take on The Walking Dead, with Mounties and Elvis

In the grim darkness of a zombie-infested future, Canada is the only hope.

This is the setup for Death Road to Canada, a just-launched video game by a tinyteam with somewhat unusual resums for indie games developers.

Death Roadis a mix of old-school pixel art,moody lighting,twitch-based reactions and off-the-wall humour.Itfeatures moose-riding Mounties fighting off zombies with hockey sticks as well asa wide swath ofrecruitablecharacters:from a dog that can learn how to drive the team'sWinnebagoto Elvis himself.

"You have a car full of jerks on a road trip from Florida to Canada," the last place on earth not overrun by zombies,explains Kepa Auwae,head ofRocketcatGames.

Death Roadis a collaboration between Auwae and Madgarden, otherwise known as Paul Pridhamof Kitchener, Ont.

"The story is a humorous take on how America sees Canada, as thought up by someone that lives in Kitchener," says Auwae.

The team's path to game development wasn't straightforward. Auwae, for instance,started tinkering with games while working as a pediatric nurseon the night shift in Washington."There's not a lot to do after work at 3a.m.," he says.

He formed Rocketcat with Jeremy Orlando, a programmer inDetroit, and Brandon Rhodes, who was then a pizzadelivery guy inArizona.

Pridhampreviouslyworked in technical fields likeindustrial networking.

"I realized that wasbullcrapand I should be making games," he says. The Canadianmoved into-full-time development asMadgardenin 2010.

Navigating indie successand frustrations

Rocketcat found its stride when they teamed up with Pridham to make Punch Quest, an endless runner gamesimilar to Temple Run or Sonic Dash,released in 2012 and since been downloaded more than 3 million times.

Rocketcat followed up with Wayward Souls, a moody treasure hunting and exploration game that has been compared to hardcore gamers' favourite Dark Souls.

Death Roadis the collaborators' first game to launch on PCinstead of smartphone, a move that has allowed them to avoid the struggle between making a mobile game profitable for its developers and fun for playersat the same time.

"How free-to-play games work is that you're counting on people to get annoyed, and then having to pay to reduce their annoyance," says Auwae.

"Anyone who's played Candy Crush Saga, run out of turns and felt the pull to pay for a few more to finish a level will understand this anguish."

Rocketcat and Madgarden designed Punch Quest against this "pay-to-win" sensibility, but as a result, the number of players paying for items, such as additional attacks or hats to customize your character's look,was so low that the quartetwasn't making any money.

Auwae says he was able to increasethe price of items to makePunch Quest profitable enough to support the small team'scontinuedworkwithout adjusting the game to make these items mandatory.

Death Road to Canada launchedFriday on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, but the developers are already working on several other projects, includingDad by the Sword, a humorous take on the prevalence of fatherhood themes in modern video games mixed with slapstick humour in the vein of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"Dad games make tons of money," Auwae says,citingpopular titles like The Last of Us and Heavy Rain.

"I saw all these dad games and thought 'I also want to be a part of this billion-dollar dad wagon.' At least, I wanted to make fun of it."