Art Director, Zach Schlappi, was working on a title called Gun Hero, in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, once upon the time. In production at an unnamed development studio, Gun Hero would have run on Unreal technology, and, despite its name, was going to be a game that emphasized melee combat against zombies.
According to Schlappi, the game’s creative director wanted to “emphasize the personal scale of [George] Romero’s first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead.” To complement this feel, Schlappi created a rural setting for Gun Hero.
The concepts you see here were reportedly created in a week. Schlappi says that Gun Hero was cancelled due to “changing priorities” in the company. Prior to Gun Hero, he had worked on Medal of Honor: European Assault and Medal of Honor: Vanguard, both for the PlayStation 2, which suggests Gun Hero could have been in development at Electronic Arts. Further supporting this possibility is a quote from Schlappi saying he’d worked with the game’s Technical Art Director for nearly five years. He is currently working on a project at Ubisoft.
Below, you can see two more areas he helped create for Gun Hero during pre-production. The one on the right, Schlappi says, was inspired by Silence of the Lambs.
