If Brad Pitt can separate himself long enough from Angelina Jolie to make a feature film about a global zombie war, then Lee Perry and his merry band of creators at gaming startup BitMonster can bet the farm to cash in on the enduring zombie phenomenon, too. So they did.

The BitMonster team, which is six former developers from Cary-based Epic Games, announced their third title Tuesday. It’s “Gunner Z” and the audience target is gamers who want to shoot ’em up on mobile devices.

In less than a year, Perry and company have gone from a highly praised fantasy title (Geos, named a top iOS game for 2012) to an educational game about AIDS developed in conjunction with Coca-Cola to zombie combat.

Tongue in cheek perhaps, Perry says “Gunner Z” is a “drastically different flavor.”

But this is not standard gross slaughter as witnessed in AMC’s “Walking Dead.” Gunner Z puts players in gun turrets (called AC-HMVs) to take on a zombie army controlled by a “powerful enemy military.” The mission is to beat an army of the undead that have overrun a city.

The combat takes place at night to make it more sinister, and players are equipped with what Perry calls “modern vehicle weaponry on steroids.”

“The only force capable of stopping the undead army is YOU!” BitMonster declares.

So why pick zombies? Well, Perry was part of the team developing Epic’s own zombie title (Fortnite). But we also must face facts: gross zombies are hot.

“The Horror Theme”

The Skinny caught up with Perry to talk about the new game.

“We haven’t nailed down the pricing details quite yet, and we’re just finishing up a closed beta that will influence our ship dates,” Perry says. “but, very soon.”

Why pick the zombie genre for the new title?

Initially we were straightforward military action, but as the graphics developed we understandably started growing uncomfortable with so much realistic violence. People in general seem far more comfortable with fictional beasts and vehicles and such. So, Zombies were a good solution. World War Z, Walking Dead, and Last of Us are showing that movies, books, and games are still squarely in a place that appreciates them.

What sets this title apart from other zombie games?

People make zombie games of all types. There’s adventure games, puzzle games, role playing games, stealth games, shooters, tower defense games, etc that all use the theme. For Gunner Z we wanted to blend vehicle controls and turret gameplay with the horror theme. Ultimately for this we’re pulling from our shooter game experiences and making the most visceral game we can.

As you know, game sales are hurting. How are you aiming to avoid that problem?

The mobile market is growing consistently from year to year. The trick is trying to stand out of course, and we hope the style we’ve chosen as well as well as the very high production values we strive for are a differentiating factor.

How long has it been under development?

We started this mid-January, so, around 6 months now.

Is this your biggest, costliest investment to date? Is this the game that could be the breakthrough for you as a gaming venture?

We spent around 7-8 months on Lili for iOS last year, so this has turned out to be a comparable effort. Naturally everyone hopes each game they create will be their big breakthrough. For Gunner Z we’re hoping to establish a solid group of players who are die hard core fans, but also a game that can be picked up by loads of people.

How many employees do you have now, and are you hiring?

We actually have no employees technically, there are 6 of us founding partners at BitMonster and don’t have immediate plans to expand.

Are you seeking outside investment at this time? Do you already have investors or are you bootstrapping?

We are 100% independent right now, all working from savings and the income that we’ve started generating with our previous games. I wouldn’t say we are actively seeking partners right now simply for how much it complicates the creative process and can slow down development, but we generally keep a “let’s hear everything out” attitude.

(The Skinny’s bet: If Gunner Z is a hit, proving BitMonster appears to have staying power in the mobile game space, the investors will be calling.)