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Tyneside will be the setting of a new video game where players battle to survive against hordes of zombies.

Gamers will be allowed to run around a virtual version of Gateshead and Newcastle, killing zombies as they race to find a safe place to wait out the apocalypse.

The game is being developed by indie computer games studio Pocket Money Games (PMG), which is aiming to make a realistic version of the North East.

CEO Frankie Cavanagh said: “The game is called Venusian Strain. It will be released next year but it’s all based in Gateshead and will be based on real scans.

“I am in it at the moment, I’m the main character, but I won’t be when it comes out. It is a play on Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 but it will be photorealistic.”

The team at PMG us currently developing the virtual world and is in the process of taking thousands of pictures of local streets, buildings and local landmarks to create the game’s maps. The aim is to make the world as true to the real thing as possible.

“We will pack it together and then you get a big chunk of Gateshead you can run around in and shoot zombies,” said Mr Cavanagh.

“Originally it wasn’t set in Gateshead but the practicality of it worked well. The area is a mix of new and old, of big shiny buildings next to old derelict ones.”

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A number of distinct North East landmarks will appear in the game, and players will even be able to enter the town’s main Tyne and Wear Metro station.

“The Metrocentre - or a version of it - will be in the game. You have to have a mall in a zombie game,” said Frankie.

“I want it to be as noticeable as it can be. The bigger areas will be the bridges over the Tyne. There will be a big set piece on a railway bridge, and the High Level bridge is quite nice for that.

“The idea of the game now is: ‘If there was a zombie apocalypse and I was in this office, what would I do?’

“There is a place near my house in Kenton, which is a World War Two bunker and we want to go there and film. The idea is to get your character there.”

PMG has recently expanded its development team, taking on eight new members of staff to help create a raft of new games. The new roles have boosted the studio’s headcount to 20 and include artists, coders and designers.

In the past the indie studio has made a number of virtual reality games but the team is now focusing on more traditional “flat” games.

Among its projects currently being developed is Rick O’Shade, a puzzle game where the player must assassinate a target by bouncing bullets of walls, and O-Boy, a platforming game in the style of Metroid and Super Mario Bros.

PMG is also making a sequel to its popular Dimension Hunter game. The first person shooter was praised for its classic comic book art style and was released as a VR game. However, the sequel won’t be released in VR.

PMG’s games will all get a cross platform release, on PC via Steam, as well as Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. The majority of the games will be released before the end of the year, although Venusian Strain is expected to launch in 2020.