Mike Rossmassler

A small portion of the population has chosen to reject the drugs, resigning themselves to mortality. However, the cybernetic implants present in their bodies have been programmed with the impetus for survival, and as a result, continue to 'live' even after their host flesh dies. What results is a scattering of creatures of varying sentience. The creatures form an ant colony-like hive mind, relying on wifi for communication, rather than pheromones. The human population takes little notice, even though these undead cyborg entities are slowly becoming the Earth's dominant society. These creatures exist as autonomous corpses, driven by the programming of their robotic components, which were never designed with the possibility of death. As such, the cyborg portions continue to augment the flesh, forcibly evolving dead tissue, to the point that the robotic elements are beginning to attain a sort of sentience. Furthermore, these creatures are capable of reproducing through the assimilation of dead organic matter and coincidental electronics.

These creatures, called 'the Jawless' by those who have seen them, are the next dominant lifeform on the planet Earth. Their formative act is one of tearing their lower jaw from their face, thereby removing the defining organ of the human species, and thusly transforming themselves into something else.

Currently, the largest population of these creatures exist in the slums of a ruined Los Angeles, which is now an uncomfortable mix of the ultra rich, who live in giant fortress-like skyscrapers built on the ruins of Hollywood, and the ultra poor, who have overrun the outlying areas as well as downtown. There is semi-constant class warfare between the poor and the rich. The rich class have addicted the poor to cheap heroin, but are themselves addicted to cocaine, and methamphetamines that the mafia controlled farms inject into the food supplies. Consumed by ennui, these essentially immortal humans have turned to drug use to reintroduce excitement to their lives. Molecular Recombinant Recycling systems eliminate the need for complex production cycles, though the consumer urge still drives a semblance of an economy, which is merely a front for more recycling systems. Global warming has been overcome through the strategic recycling of pollutants, to the end that the entire earth enjoys a relatively Mediterranean climate.

The audience for this game is a cooperative 3rd person game consisting of four players who must fight for survival against the rich and the poor by cannibalizing the dead and the dying.

Sketches are in (one of many of) my sketchbooks. The world As Flesh Dies exists in is a take on the next dominant species to arise in the earth's evolution. I will use Los Angeles as the locus for my project, given the assumption that its elevated population, areas of affluence and proximity to bioengineering and technological centers. The boundaries for the project will effectively be the area in and adjacent to the triangle formed by the 405, 10 and 110 freeways. Outside of this, the city exists in a relative state of disrepair, covered in 10 years of natural reclamation, populated by insane hermits.