Trowbridge and Devizes recreated in new zombie video game

Justin Pike, who lives in Trowbridge, has built a digital version of his home town and Devizes, where his girlfriend is from, as part of the creation of Trowbridge – The Game, which is set to feature much of Wiltshire.

Players will be able to explore the towns, which have been recreated in painstaking detail using the computer graphics software Blender, while fighting zombies in the process.

For Mr Pike, the game is the realisation of his childhood dreams.

“When I was a kid, we always used to say how much fun it would be to play a game set in our own home town”, he said.

HSBC in Trowbridge (Image: Justin Pike)

“I was just playing around with the models for Trowbridge and people said they wanted to play a game like this, so I started a Facebook page.

“I’ve always wanted to be a games designer and I thought I’d have to go to university to do it, but I’ve taught myself everything so far with the help of YouTube.”

The 38-year-old has designed many of the two town’s most famous buildings, including the iconic Wadworth brewery and the Market Place in Devizes, and St James’ Church in Trowbridge.

He uses Google Earth to establish the scale of the buildings and takes pictures of the towns to ensure the frontage is up to date.

Each building takes him between an hour and three hours to make, although the church took 12 hours.

The church took 12 hours to complete (Image: Justin Pike)

Updates about the game have been popular on Facebook, with a recent post showing the design of Devizes Market Place receiving over 150 reactions.

Mr Pike said he has been blown away by the reaction.

He added: “I was pretty chuffed with it actually because I posted it to see what people think and the reaction was pretty impressive.

“There’s definitely something there. I’m really excited because so many people say they can’t wait to play the game which is pretty cool.”

Going forwards, Mr Pike also hopes to tap into the old fashioned architecture of Devizes and Trowbridge by developing an update set in the Victorian era, as well as developing other towns in Wiltshire.

Next on his to do list is Bradford on Avon.

He believes he will be able to be able to release the game for others to play on their computers and consoles at some point late this year or early next year.