A Zebra-masked man wielding a chainsaw and a thirst for blood? Don’t threaten me with a good time. 

But a good time is what Rubén Carrascal, creator of the Thunder Zebra universe, is hoping players will have when they don the zebra mask themselves and get ready to slay their way through his debut game title The Zebra-Man!. 

While Carrascal has been working in the film industry, mainly with special effects and creating his own short films and movies, he told Nerd Girl News he’s always loved video games. 

“Even when I was a kid, I used to write my own games,” he said. “I think I developed my first game when I was 12 but always used Blender, which was my first mistake, instead of learning Unity.” 

The Zebra-Man! started out in Blender, he explained, but after teaming up with developer and publisher Zerouno Games, the game is now being created with Unity and Carrascal is picking up the skill. 

“Blender uses a node system – it’s not code,” Carrascal explained. “I know nothing about code but luckily the guys at Zerouno provided me with a developer who could do everything in Unity.” 

The Kickstarter launched on Feb. 21, 2023 with a demo on Steam – which is hella’ awesome, you should go play it now – and the project has been in development for almost 12 months. 

At time of publication, the Kickstarter has met and surpassed its goal. More money, in this case, doesn’t mean more problems but it does mean the team can add more to the game to really illustrate the level of chaos Carrascal envisions.  

“If we pass the goal that means we can hire more developers who can work on more levels at the same time,” he said of the hope to have different styles of gameplay throughout the game via interdimensional travel. 

“That was something I knew I wanted to do with this game, to have a lot of different gameplay styles,” he added. “But with just one person developing the game, it’s a hard thing to do because she’s not just developing this game but two others as well.” 

Another important facet of game development is player feedback and Carrascal said bringing The Zebra-Man! to a convention gave him the opportunity to hear what players had to say. 

“Everybody seemed to enjoy the demo and the whole time I was taking notes from every single tester and analyzing the way they played,” he said, emphasizing he doesn’t want the game to have tutorials. 

“When possible I don’t want to tell the player they have to go this or that way. I want the player to have freedom and find things out by themselves,” he added. “I want the game to be as intuitive as possible.” 

So, you played the demo, you watched the trailer and you find yourself wanting more of The Zebra-Man! and the other colourful characters? When it comes to world building, or should I say universe building, Carrascal has created the Thunder Zebra universe in which these characters exist. 

“It’s like my own Marvel Universe,” he said with a grin, adding you can find The Zebra-Man, Racoon and Alexander Cooper in some of the short films on his YouTube channel. 

“I always knew I wanted to make these crazy stories where everything is connected.” 

Offering some advice for those with a story in their mind that they want to turn into a video game, Carrascal said try and try again. 

“It’s a really crazy world,” he said of the video game industry. “The only thing I can say is to try and try again and try again until the universe says it’s your time.”

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