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Robotoki and Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward’s former Community Manager, are hard at work on Human Element, their first game. Yesterday, Bowling confirmed that Human Element will be developed using Crytek’s CryEngine as well revealed the game’s launch plans.

Human Element is currently in development for the PC and will be released in November 2015 (so says Bowling via Twitter). In addition to the PC version, the game is in the works for next-generation consoles (specifically the PS4 and Xbox One), but it is unknown when the console edition will be available. A mobile spinoff of the open world game where players are tasked with rebuilding the world 35 years after a zombie uprising is also in development.

“The ambitious narrative and gameplay of Human Element required an innovative set of features in order to achieve our vision.” said Bowling. “CryEngine is the perfect fit for us because it delivers so many powerful features straight out of the box such as the physical based shading system and the infinite terrain from segmented worlds to create a massive open world experience but still allow the visual fidelity and detail our players expect from a first person experience from our team.”

Bowling also confirmed (again via Twitter) that a Human Element prequel originally in development for the Ouya has been canceled.

Zombies. There is no escaping them, no matter what Jesse Eisenberg preached in Zombieland. Zombies are here to stay for quite some time it would seem, as indie game studio Robotoki announced their first title, Human Element, a zombie survival game, will debut in 2015. Robert Bowling, the company’s President and former Creative Strategist at Infinity Ward, said of the game, “Their greatest strength is the fear that [zombies] instil in us, the survivors, that unreasonable fear. Unreasonable fear that leads us to do unreasonable things to survive.”

While the description sounds very similar to Naughty Dog’s upcoming game The Last Of Us, and the poster echoes the classic Left 4 Dead, Bowling’s new company may be able to offer more than run, shoot and hide. The game will feature a character creation system, where you choose a class – Action, Intelligence, or Stealth – as well as a separate identity or starting scenario, but there is still only a choice of three: survive alone, survive with a partner, or survive while protecting a young child. Hopefully these various combinations will offer much retail value, with Bowling placing a special emphasis on survival on both a physical and moral level.

Will you have to feed a baby human flesh? We won’t know for another three years when the game is distributed across every conceivable platform, from “next genertation consoles” to PCs to mobile phones.

[Source: Game Informer]

Remember Robert Bowling, the former Infinity Ward Community Manager more popularly known as FourZeroTwo? He left the Call of Duty creator a few weeks ago, but he’s already on to his next project, a new game studio known as Robotoki.

“Robotoki is focused on being a developer development studio that just happens to make games,” Bowling said. “We are focused on our team first and everything else second, because I believe as an industry; we have a lot to learn on how to treat talent. While we continue to out stride film and music entertainment in other areas, we are falling severely behind in how to properly inspire and support our creative talent.”

Bowling’s mission statement seems to feature shades of John Romero’s “Design is Law” philosophy. Let’s hope he doesn’t threaten to make us his bitch. But Robotoki’s developers-first aim also includes Bowling’s promise that the company is completely self-funded and will own all of its creations.

The studio is already in the early stages of development on its first project, which will be announced later this year. The untitled game is in the works for the PC, next-generation consoles, and mobile platforms like iOS and Android. Though obviously, each platform will receive a unique version of the game.

“How they experience the [game’s universe] is unique to their device. The mobile/tablet experience should not mimic the console or PC experience, it should be additive to it, not supplemental. Allowing them to support their console and PC experience, continue their progression, but by experiencing the world in a meaningful and unique way,” said Bowling.

[Source: Game Informer]