Prerelease:The Walking Dead (Windows)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for The Walking Dead (Windows).

Pre Walking Dead Prototype

In The Walking Dead 10th Anniversary Documentary, released on April 24, 2022,
Skybound Games unveiled for the first time brief snippets of footage from the prototype of what would eventually become The Walking Dead.

The project initially began as a standalone game set in the Left 4 Dead universe. Telltale Games approached Valve Software to explore the possibility of creating a more narrative-focused game, but the idea did not progress. They later pitched the concept to Robert Kirkman at a convention, who showed interest in the idea. As a test, Telltale developed several set pieces and characters, complete with voice acting.

The prototype footage, shown in Documentary, is framed in a first-person view. The character designs are very cartoonish in nature, contrasting even with the final game's comic book-inspired art style. Although the zombie featured closely resembles their final design, the survivors used in the prototype are clearly repurposed from different projects, as evidenced by the protagonist who reuses the model for Marty McFly from Telltale’s Back to the Future games.

While the audio is too low to clearly discern what the characters are saying, it’s evident that voice acting was included at this stage in development. A modified version of the prototype's morgue was later repurposed for Episode 5.

Prototype	Back to the Future

Episode Screen Notes & Changes

During the game's release, episodes were sold separately as downloadable content (DLC) through digital stores. Often, the icons used for these episodes featured pre-release models, assets, or simply slight alterations. It was also discovered that in the .txmesh files for Episode 2, there is a very small leftover texture that appears unusually stretched. When adjusted, it reveals early mockups of the thumbnails for each episode, which, just like the digital store icons, feature small differences from the ones seen in the retail game.

Episode 1: A New Day

• The prototype thumbnail depicts the drug store seen in the final game, as well as a white man wearing a hat who is wielding an axe in one hand and the hand of a little blonde girl with long hair in the other. Next to them is a man with spiky hair and glasses. All three are fleeing, while two walkers appear to be pursuing them.
• The icon uses a screenshot taken directly from the debut trailer of the game. The only noticeable differences are that the room is much darker, making it difficult to see the furniture, and Sandra's blood is bright red instead of black, it is also missing the motion blur seen in the trailer.
• The final in-game diorama closely resembles the original concept art, it depicts a clean, unboarded version of the drug store with Lee, Clementine, and Carly running away from danger. Unlike the concept art, the final version does not feature any walkers, though they do appear in gameplay.

Mockup	Icon	Debut Trailer	Final

Episode 2: Starved For Help

• The mockup version is a rough draft featuring an early model of Lilly, evident from her differently shaped mouth, thinner eyebrows, slimmer head, and more pronounced neck muscles. The background consists of many generic shapes and a stock photo of two businessmen having a heated argument.
• The Episode 2 icon features the same early model of Lilly, but this time her head has a more natural shape and her eyes are a brighter shade of brown. The art style takes on a more realistic look, characterized by realistic shading, lack of the signature comic book pencil lines, and very pronounced wrinkles. Notably, Lilly is looking to her left instead of forward, and the characters are depicted with their appearances from Episode 1.

Mockup	Icon	Final

Episode 3: Long Road Ahead

• The mockup displays a very rough draft with several handwritten notes. Unfortunately, the texture resolution is too low-resolution to discern most of the messages.
• For Episode 3, the icon features the final composition, with a few notable differences. The diorama shows the sun shining brightly through the trees and a huge splat of blood from a walker being struck by the train. The background repurposes assets from the St. John Dairy Farm, as evidenced by the presence of orange leaves, the same fence models, and a tree trunk with an axe. Notably, the second train track is missing from the background, and both the train and trees are not casting any shadows. Given the odd angle of the train relative to the environment, it's possible that the image was made with an image editing software such as Photoshop.

Mockup	Icon	Final
Notes:
The mockup features a few handwritten notes, with three stick-figure labeled as Duck, Lee, and Ben. The word "Zombie" is faintly visible on the far right, but due to the low quality of the thumbnail, the rest of the messages are unfortunately unreadable.

Episode 4: Around Every Corner

• The mockup features Christa, Kenny, and Lee in a square hole with a ladder, sealed by cell bars. It reuses the same walker silhouettes from Episode 1's concept art. Interestingly, this mockup is much more faithful to the final version seen in the game's diorama compared to the one shown in the debut trailer.
• In a similar vein to Episode 1, the icon for this episode uses a screenshot taken directly from the Debut Trailer of the game. Despite the scene never being depicted that way in the episode, as Christa and Kenny are not present during this sequence.
• The only difference between the icon and the final version is the overall harsh sunlight. Additionally, the manhole appears to be much deeper and lacks both the ladder and the ridges on the walls. The characters are shown wearing their Episode 1 costumes. Christa and Lee are depicted looking toward each other instead of in different directions.

Mockup	Icon	Debut Trailer	Final

Episode 5: No Time Left

• The icon for Episode 5 remains largely unchanged, with the only differences being the ever-present intense sun rays and Clementine now looking at the dead walker instead of away from it.

Mockup	Icon	Final

Marketing

Debut Trailer

In the Debut Trailer released on March 20, 2012, various moments from the game's story are depicted, roughly in chronological order. These scenes primarily showcase events from Episode 1, with a few set pieces from Episode 2 and 3.

Sewers.

• Characters sport their look from Episode 1 regardless of their point in the story.
• Christa is present for many of the scenes despite not being introduced up to that point.
• The trailer, along with other promotional material, features a scene where Lee, Kenny, and Christa are trapped in the sewers while walkers roam above ground. Although a similar scene eventually occurs in Episode 4, neither Kenny nor Christa are present in that sequence.

Kenny tries to save Christa.

• At the 0:40 mark, there's a scene set in a forest where Lee, Kenny, Ben, and Christa are present near the bear trap area. Ben appears horrified, while Lee restrains Kenny, who is reaching out toward Christa, who has a gun pointed at her head, the scene ends with her pulling the trigger and seemingly taking her own life. However, this scene or anything similar never actually occurs in the episode.

Campfire.

• A set piece from Episode 3 is shown, featuring Lee, Kenny, Lilly, Glenn, Doug, and what appears to be Hershel gathered around a fireplace. However, by this point in the story, Doug should be dead, Glenn is no longer with the group, and Hershel never actually joins the group.

Early models

Many images in the marketing material showcase early models of the characters.

Early Lilly, Kenny, and Glenn

In the Episode Status menu, the typical Telltale screen that displays the episodes a player has acquired, made obsolete by the release of the "Complete First Season" edition, a texture called "ui_menu_store_episodelist" serves as the background for the episodes list. In this texture, polaroids of early models of Lilly, Kenny, and Glenn can be seen.

ui_menu_store_episodelist

Appstore Clem

The App Store page for the game displays a render featuring a Clementine model that is significantly different from the one seen in the final game. This model lacks the watercolor textures and comic book pencil lines, shading under the neck and nose, and features smaller eyes, different colored lips, and a slightly darker skin tone. Additionally, Clementine's hat is shown in a lighter, washed shade of purple with white lines around the brim. Lee remains mostly unchanged, with the only difference being that he is depicted wearing light green jeans instead of his dark brown pants.

Appstore showcase image		Final

Concept Art

400 Days

Concept artists for the 400 Days DLC are Jesse Maccabe, Derek Stratton, and Gray Rogers. Of the three, only Maccabe's contributions can be confirmed, as there are quite a few that can be found on his personal site.

Art	File Name	Notes
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopMood01.jpg	A mood piece depicting the five protagonists (and Becca) walking towards the truck stop. Shel appears to have much longer hair than she does in her final appearance. Bonnie appears to be wearing the jacket her concept art depicts, which isn't what she wears in the final game. Vince also seems to be wearing a leather jacket of some kind. A zoomed-in version of this piece became its banner on most storefronts.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckstopConcept01.jpg	Two pieces depicting the truck stop, here still known as "Gray's Truckstop". In the final game, it appears as "Gil's Pitstop". Most of the other signage, such as the "eat" and "Red's Diner" signs remained identical from concept to final. For the bottom piece, the light blue truck on the left is still shown as part of the barricade there in the final game, but at no point are there are cars shown in front of the diner like this.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckstopConcept01A.jpg	Same as above, but only the top piece.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckstopConcept01B.jpg	Same as above, but only the bottom piece.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckstopConcept01C.png	These pieces depict the truckstop once again, but now in the post-apocalypse, after Shel's group has taken residence there. The top artwork shows the barricade made around the truckstop. The hanging plants also appear here as seen in the final game. The sign still bears the name "Gray's Truckstop". The bottom artwork is more interesting, as it depicts a raised walkway from the roof of Pitt's Market to the neighboring garage, while also going over a stationary truck. This walkway is completely absent in the final game, and the garage door is never shown opened.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckstopConcept02.jpg	The top piece of the truckstop art, but now with a purple-ish tint.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept03.jpg	Two pieces of truckstop art, now in a greenish tint very similar to how it actually appears in the final game.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept03A.jpg	Same as above, but only the top piece.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept03B.jpg	Same as above, but only the bottom piece.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept04.jpg	Two pieces of truckstop art, with natural lighting, but depicted as overrun with walkers. Very notable is the fact that the RV to the left is now gone. In the final game, Shel only leaves the truckstop with said RV based on choices made.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept05.jpg	Same as above, but lacking color.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days truckStopConcept06.jpg	Various black-and-white pieces of truck stop art. The top and middle left pictures appear above, but without walkers and flies. The bottom left and right pictures depict the same scene as above, with the walkers and the raised walkway. The left picture is unaltered, the right highlights just the walkers and walkway. The three other pictures on the right appear to be close-ups on parts of the artworks on the left. The top one is a zoom-in on a hole in the barricade wall, seen from the outside. The middle artwork also depicts this hole, but seen from the inside, and the third one depicts debris all over the place, notably also showing the RV parked in the garage door with an opened door. This placement seems to suggest that in the other images with the walkway, the garage door is open because the RV has driven away, the debris in the second variation seems to imply that the RV (presumably driven by Shel) would've gone right through the plant/garden setup. Another small difference is the fact that the vending machine appears properly against the wall in the art, whereas it's pulled away from the wall in Shel's story.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days noticeBoard01.jpg	The notice board from which you pick your characters. According to Jesse Maccabe, he created all the interactable 2D art for this asset. Also present is a silhouette for Tavia.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days noticeBoard02.jpg	A more detailed look at all the notices pinned up. While the layout remains mostly identical to how the board appears in the final game, there are numerous small differences. The text underneath "DOG OWNERS" has been made illegible. The text underneath "VACATED AREA" has also been made illegible. The flyer next to the "Dennis" poster has been replaced by another missing man's poster. An elderly woman's missing poster was put over the "hauling service" poster. The "need a ride?" flyer was replaced by a missing child's poster and a small tag reading "FOSE". The leftmost "WARNING" sign has been moved down. Both the left and right corners had a lot of small notes removed. The early board has two photographs that don't appear in the final game. The photograph in the upper rightmost corner depicts an old man. This is actually concept art of Vernon from the original game. The second photo is located at the bottom of the board, almost right in the center. The picture appears to depict an African-American male with a small afro in a floral shirt and a sweatvest. The gray background, and the fact that the man appears to be in an A-pose seems to imply that this was also repurposed concept art, albeit of a character that's as of yet unknown. The right part of the concept art depicts a closeup of the protagonists, which also features many differences. Wyatt's face is different and he's depicted wearing a baseball cap. Vince's face is also different, and he's depicted with a fuller beard. Russell's face is completely different, and he looks older. Bonnie's and Shel's pictures remained the same. The papers with their names on them remain unchanged, but their position differs from concept to final. Vince's remains pretty identical. Final Wyatt's picture has the tape to the right, while the early version has it centered. Shel's paper is angled to the left in the final game, but to the right in the concept art. Bonnie's early photo has her paper taking up the top left of her picture, covering the White House completely. The final version moves this down. Early Russell's picture sticks out a lot to the left, while the final version sticks out to the right. Also of note is that, next to Bonnie, a paper with the letters "TA" can be made out. This paper actually reads "Tavia" and was meant to be for her chapter selection, which ultimately got cut. The texture for this paper can still be found in the final game's files. The texts behind the protagonists' pictures have also been changed.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days photos.jpg	A separate look at the protagonists' pictures, showcasing their design changes more clearly. Wyatt's early picture still appears in the final game, at the very end of the DLC when the characters burn their pictures, Wyatt's picture uses this early design.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days prisonBusConcept.jpg	Design variants for the prison bus in Vince's story. Design B appears in the final game.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days prisonBusConcept.jpg	Designs B and D, as well as the layout of the bus' inside.
	Jessemaccabe wd400Days cornField01.png	This piece depicts the penultimate scene from Bonnie's story, where she hides from her unseen, flashlight-wielding assailant behind a tractor in a cornfield. Once again, Bonnie is depicted in a jacket more similar to her concept art, rather than the one she wears in the final game.

The following pieces of concept art are sourced directly from The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series' concept art gallery:

Art	File Name	Notes
	Concept 106CharactersVinceDannyJustinMarcus.png	Some of the major characters in Vince's story. Vince himself looks quite a bit different, and more so resembles the concept art of his photograph, as seen above, rather than his finalized appearance. Danny looks a lot younger, and has a shaved head and is clean shaven. Justin also looks younger, and has a more broad face overall, as well as a more bulbous nose. Marcus Crabtree also looks to be younger, as well as clean shaven, and he has a more bulbous nose as well. The gallery names this piece as Vince, Danny, Justin, Marcus.
	Concept 106CharactersWyattEddieRusselNate.png	The major characters in Wyatt's and Russell's stories. Wyatt himself looks pretty much identical, except that his shirt was a way more vibrant red originally. Russell's face looks a lot different, and he looks generally older. This face was also seen in the concept art for his photograph, but it would ultimately be reworked by the time of the final game's release. Eddie and Nate look unchanged in comparison to their final game counterparts. The gallery names this piece as Wyatt, Eddie, Russell, Nate.
	Concept 106CharactersMollyLelandBonnieChuckStranger.png	This artwork depicts Leland and Bonnie from the 400 Days DLC alongside Molly, Chuck's early design, and The Stranger from Season One. Whether this implies that Bonnie and Leland were conceptualized alongside these characters, or if their art was just put together for this release, is unknown. While Leland appears pretty much the same, Bonnie is shown with quite a different face, loose strands of hair hanging in front of her face, and a completely different jacket than what she wears during her story, which is just a retexture of Carley's. The gallery names this piece as Molly, Leland, Bonnie, Chuck, Stranger.
	Concept 106CharactersCliveJoyceBoydVernon.png	These are the cancer survivors first encountered in Season One. However, in the gallery's files, they're identified as "106" characters. 106 standing for "Season One, Chapter Six", which is in actuality the 400 Days DLC, as there is no sixth chapter. Another strange thing about this artwork is the fact that Vernon is included, seeing as he doesn't make a physical appearance in the DLC. His artwork already existed before the release of the DLC, as confirmed by its presence on concept art for the notice board. However, it's unknown if the other survivors already had artwork at this point. Their outfits depict their 400 Days appearance, as they wore different clothing in the base game, but if you look at Joyce's right arm, it's clear that the artwork was painted over at some point. The color visible matches the one she was depicted with in Season One, possibly implying that this art was just Season One art painted over. This wouldn't be that hard, as their clothes in the DLC are just retextures of their clothing from the first season, as well. The gallery names this piece as Clive, Joyce, Boyd, Vernon.
	Concept 106CharactersBeccaShelAnnieTavia.png	Quite a notable assortment of character art. First is Becca, who appears mostly the same as her final game appearance. However, when we first meet her, and in the epilogue, her undershirt is red. When she's in the RV after the attack in Shel's story, her undershirt is white. At no point is it ever purplish-blue like her artwork. Shel is only seen in the artwork outfit after the attack on the truck stop, never before or after. Strangely enough, "Annie" is a character that goes almost completely unused. She does actually appear in-game at the very beginning of Vince's story, alongside Shel and Becca. However, there, she's quickly bitten and killed by walkers on the highway as the sisters escape. She was originally intended to be a companion character in Tavia's original story, where the two would explore the truckstop together, before Tavia would make a nasty fall, breaking her back, and forcing Annie to save her. Even stranger is the fact that all of her files in the final game refer to her as "Stephanie". Meanwhile, the used Stephanie seen in Shel's story, is internally referred to as "Annie". Tavia also appears slimmer in the art than she does in-game, and her shirt was originally red plaid, rather than white as it appears in the final game. The gallery names this piece as Becca, Shel, Annie, Tavia.
	Concept 106PrisonBus.png	The interior of the prison bus in which Vince is seen in his story. Both Vince and Marcus Crabtree (the bald Afro-American) look a lot closer to their final designs in comparison to their character art. However, Justin and Danny still look quite similar to theirs. Jerry, the prisoner in front of Marcus, looks completely different to his final appearance. Here, he's depicted as having a medium-length afro and a chinstrap beard. In the final game, he has a shaved head and a dark goatee. He also appears older, with a lot more wrinkles and texture in his face. The gallery names this piece as Prison Bus.
	Concept 106DinerInterior.png	The interior of Red's Diner, as shown in Shel's story. The bottom left picture shows a lot of (canned) food present on the countertop. This is likely a leftover of a removed portion where Shel and Becca would make soup together, which still has leftovers in the final game's files. The gallery names this piece as Diner: Interior.
	Concept 106TruckStop.png	The exterior of the truckstop. The gallery names this piece as Truck Stop, it's identical to Jesse Maccabe's work seen above.
	Concept 106ForestCamp.png	Three different pieces. The top left and right pictures depict the forest path Bonnie is shown on during her story. The left picture fittingly features a silhouette holding a flashlight, while the right picture has a daytime setting that's never depicted in-game. Meanwhile, the bottom left picture depicts the makeshift camp all the protagonists are shown in at the very end of the DLC, during the epilogue. Some small details are different to how they appear in the final game. The RV and Eddie's car are depicted as present, which in the final game is determinant on your player choices. The pickup truck to the left that's always present is blue in the art but red in-game. The art depicts the RV in the middle of the two trees, while it's further back in the final game. The art also shows more clutter, such as a washing line with clothes attached to an orange tent next to the RV. This tent doesn't exist in the final game, and instead, a different shaped tent appears to the right of Eddie's car. The small green tent gets moved accordingly. There are also multiple chairs present, as well as loose pieces of firewood, that don't appear in the final game. The campfire also appears covered, which isn't the case in the final game. The most noteworthy difference, however, is the fact that the prison bus appears at the camp in the artwork. This is a leftover of Tavia's original story, where she and her friend Annie would escape from the truck stop with the prison bus, and would later come across the other survivors. The gallery names this piece as Forest Camp.

Development/Release Timeline

2012

• March 16 - IGN releases the very first teaser trailer for the game.
• March 20 - Telltale Games release the game's debut trailer.
• April 9 - Telltale Games release the pre-order offer trailer.

• April 24 - Episode 1: A New Day releases for PS3 in North America, and on PC/Mac worldwide.
• April 25 - Episode 1 releases on the PS3 in Europe.
• April 27 - Episode 1 releases on the Xbox 360 worldwide.
• July 26 - Episode 1 releases on iOS worldwide.

• June 27 - Episode 2: Starved For Help releases on Xbox 360 worldwide.
• June 29 - Episode 2 releases for PS3 in North America, and on PC/Mac worldwide.
• July 6 - Episode 2 releases on the PS3 in Europe.
• August 29 - Episode 2 releases on iOS worldwide.

• August 28 - Episode 3: Long Road Ahead releases on PS3 in North America.
• August 29 - Episode 3 releases for Xbox 360 and on PC/Mac worldwide.
• September 7 - Episode 3 releases on the PS3 in Europe.
• October 18 - Episode 3 releases on iOS worldwide.

• October 9 - Episode 4: Around Every Corner releases on PS3 in North America.
• October 10 - Episode 4 releases for Xbox 360 and on PC/Mac worldwide.
• October 17 - Episode 4 releases on the PS3 in Europe.
• November 8 - Episode 4 releases on iOS worldwide.

• November 20 - Episode 5: No Time Left releases on PS3 in North America.
• November 21 - Episode 5 releases for PS3 in Europe, on PC/Mac, iOS, and Xbox 360 worldwide.

2013

• February 25 - Writer Gary Whitta appears on the Up At Noon show hosted by IGN, where he hints at an upcoming release for The Walking Dead by saying: "You won't have to wait for season two to play more Walking Dead".

• Unknown - Inbetween the teaser and the release of the original trailer, Telltale would post Vines teasing each protagonist. Due to Vine becoming defunct, these aren't available in their original format. However, the teasers for Vince and Bonnie can still be found.

• June 11 - IGN releases the trailer for the upcoming 400 Days DLC.
• July 2 - The 400 Days DLC releases on PS3 in North America.
• July 3 - The 400 Days DLC releases on PC/Mac worldwide.
• July 5 - The 400 Days DLC releases on Xbox 360 worldwide.
• July 10 - The 400 Days DLC releases on PS3 in Europe.
• July 11 - The 400 Days DLC releases on iOS worldwide.
• August 20 - The 400 Days DLC releases on PSVita worldwide.