Dead Island - Development

Development

A promotional film, created by UK animation studio Axis Productions and directed by Stuart Aitken, featured the transformation of a young girl into a zombie, played in a nonlinear sequence, was commented upon by Ben Parfitt of MCV. Parfitt praised the trailer itself, but criticized the online reaction to it, writing "It's a video that uses an image of a dead girl and images of her dying to create an emotional bond with a product." Wired exclaimed, "It may be the best video game trailer I’ve ever seen; gorgeous, well-edited and emotionally engaging." However Wired urged caution, stating that Techland did not make the trailer and that "everyone is hyped up about a short film, not the game itself."

Dead Island was originally announced in August 8, 2007 and stated to be released in 2008, developed by Techland and produced by Adrian Ciszewski, but was delayed. An official teaser trailer, titled "Part 1: Tragedy Hits Paradise", was released on May 17, 2011 featuring various gameplay aspects. A follow-up trailer, titled "Part 2: Dead Island Begins", was released on June 6, 2011 along with the announcement of the game's release being set for September 6, 2011 for the US, and September 9, 2011 for the worldwide release. The game's zombies were rendered to have fully modelled layers of meat and muscle, meaning they have a multi-layered damage system with real-time injuries. On August 9, 2011, Deep Silver announced that Dead Island's development had finished and that production had begun.

The game itself has been in development since at least 2005 when it was under the name of Island of Living Dead. The plot was also very different, the game set in the near future, and the player is a castaway on an isolated island full of zombies.