Project Zomboid's new design director probably has more in-game hours than you, and he worked on Halo to boot

When it comes to zombie killing, there are a few people I'd choose to have by my side. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, for starters. Then probably John Wick. Most important would be Jean-Claude Van Damme, thanks to the Canadian tuxedo he commonly wears - we all know teeth can't penetrate through denim. But if we were talking real-life people (yes, JCVD is fictional), Project Zomboid's new design director Christian Allen would be right up there. Not only does he have an impressive CV when it comes to working on videogames, he's got more hours in Project Zomboid itself than all but the most dedicated fans.

You'd be forgiven for not recognizing the name Christian Allen, as most of us don't study the end credits of every videogame we play. But he's been the lead designer on Halo: Reach, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and many more. However, most notable is the work he has already done in Project Zomboid.

As well as playing the zombie game for over 5,000 hours, Allen is a keen modder in the Zomboid community. Known as 'Serellan', he has created custom modes that include escaping from zombie-filled skyscrapers that are on fire. The skyscrapers, not the zombies. Or maybe the zombies later on.

All this is to say that Allen is clearly a dedicated Zomboid player, and just the type of developer you want leading the direction of the team going forward. Allen has been working on Zomboid (as a paid member of staff, rather than a hobbyist modder) for a month at this point, as a part of a larger move to inject some new blood into the Indie Stone team to keep its hit game fresh.

Other new faces include Max Nuttall (production), Matt Sullivan (community), and Daniel Heelan and Matthew Harber (QA). There have also been other reshuffles within existing members of staff. You can read the full extent of the changes in the official dev blog, which you can find here.

If you want more games made by people who love playing them as much as you do, check out our list of the best indie games. If you're sticking to the zombie killing, the best Project Zomboid mods will let you shape things in new and unexpected ways. Why not try a burning building escape this time around?

You can also join our community Discord server, where staff and readers wage perpetual war on an army of theoretical zombies as we debate our best zombie-slaying teams. I still think mine wins.