The anticipation has been building for some time since we initially announced Contagion and shared with you a teaser trailer, renders, and our dev blogs (which we hope to pick up again when we aren't spending our available time developing the game itself which is a hard task in and of itself). In fact we ran a promotion on Facebook and with the support of many ZPS, Contagion, L4D, and Zombie fans and their friends & family we released it early Thursday night proving our social network definitely deserve our attention. It is however time to share with the rest of you our early alpha in-game footage!
As promised here is Contagion. This is Alpha footage and only a teaser. I'm sure many of you are immediately picking apart the video but remember this is old footage and the textures, animations, rigs, speeds, effects, styles, decals, etc have all been updated since so enjoy and look forward to more in the future! Also to avoid any confusion this video was recorded not on the 2009 (L4D/L4D2 Engine) but on the publicly available tools and 2007 Engine!
As usual we expect many fans or potential fans have their own ideas & suggestions for how to improve on what they see (knowing not what we've changed since or our ultimate goal) so as always we've prepared a forum thread for that specific purpose in our Ideas & Suggestions thread so please be sure to use that!
Also having experienced a strong positive response to our promotion we would like to once again point out that you can follow us:
By registering on our Forums- Monochrome-games.com
Via Facebook- Facebook.com
Via Twitter- Twitter.com
Via IRC- Server: irc.gamesurge.net Channel: #monochrome-games (can find client here if you need one)
Where our Public Relations rep Tom Lindelius on his return from vacation will be
updating with media we have ready and more teaser videos of co-op and full on MP action that we recorded among our developers already. So be sure to sign up and register to be the first to know and see the latest.
We're also looking for new talent to help expedite the games release with some additional help so if you believe you fit one of these positions we look forward to your application:
Assistant Junior Programmer Apply
- C++ Expert
- Experience with the Source Engine preferred
Level Designer Apply
- Working knowledge of level design tools
- Experience with Valve's "Hammer" level editor preferred
As we're always filing other applicants when positions open (and they will) be sure to check out our Jobs Page for other Job openings!
Lastly I want to say thank you to all the ZPS fans I played with over the week who showed great interest in the mod (yes we're still working on 2.3 though some of the team are working hard to help release NMRiH which from what they've shown us is thriving and I can't wait to play) as well as our commercial title Contagion. We would not be here with you guys and hope to see you signing up on the Monochrome forums as well to discuss the next step in the story of our favorite survivalists!
Ok, that actually looks pretty damn good for alpha footage.
Sorry about getting pissy over the facebook stuff the other day. We're just impatient, if it got you 1000 unique "likes", and therefore at least 1000 people knowing the name and general overview of your game, as well as presumably watching this footage, that can't be a bad thing.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you and I'm glad you understand what we were trying to do.
Tbh it looks really boring. Try adding "depth" into the level. More enemies, a back story, realistic environments. The mechanics though looks really good. :D Oh and the blood decals look way to big.
Reason we posted this was for the exactly such a reply "This is Alpha footage and only a teaser. I'm sure many of you are immediately picking apart the video but remember this is old footage and the textures, animations, rigs, speeds, effects, styles, decals, etc have all been updated since so enjoy and look forward to more in the future! Also to avoid any confusion this video was recorded not on the 2009 (L4D/L4D2 Engine) but on the publicly available tools and 2007 Engine!" As for the number of zombies I used our spawning system to set it low so that I could record just enough. There are plenty of hordes :)
Hm, I hope it doesn't have large hordes like Left 4 Dead. ZPS always felt a bit more tactical. That being said, maybe you'll bring your own unique feel to hordes. Gotta congratulate you on the gun mechanics, most spurce games fail to give the guns a unique feel and you immediately know it's a source game either by the interface, the way the gun looks, or the way it fires and sounds. The way you guys did it doesn't feel like Source and it feels nice.
We prefer the tactical approach vs run and gun. But would like to keep the answer at that for now but hordes play a tactical role as well if you think about it. I do not speak of L4D hordes which a totally different game. In the end we hope the design we're working towards will really pay off.
So the game will be on the older source engine? Or just for this demo?
The video was recorded awhile ago on 2007. We aren't confirming what Engine it will be released on just yet.
the smg shooting animation looks really wierd
My reply to Alex2the3gr8 should suffice :)
Whoa, this is looking extremely good! I love the gunplay mechanics that seem to be in place (even at this stage in development) because it seems to have that... powerful kind of feel when firing a gun. Very few games have that. Great detail in the gun and hand models as well!
That dog at the end of the page is so cute ! The video looks cool too.
Contagion, dead island with survival mods (when they are made eventually), no more room in hell (half life 2 mod) and project zomboid.. it's gonna be sick!!
What do you guys think of the new movie coming out soon named "Contagion?" Im more refering to the usage of the name than the movie itself.
As soon as I saw the name, I thought of you guys. <3
I was shocked to see this a year or two later and going "FINALLY! Now ppl will learn what Contagion means and how to pronounce it" heh.
looks good, how far along has it come since this was recorded?
Quite a bit, but we'll be updating with vids here and there when we can. Asked the guys to keep documenting games and what not. Hopefully get some co-op and mp in there. We're avoiding showing off too much as the game is being balanced all the time and things change so often.
Wow, my jaw dropped when I saw that first zombie run after you!
I love the survival horror in this game. Left 4 dead was a bit disappointing in that area. I can't wait for this!
PS If you're low on beta testers just let me know.
The guy you had in that video was a bamf. Was it Human Suvivors vs. Human Infected, or human survivor vs AI Infected?
Also i saw you say post any ideas to improve the video, any chance you could put in like a door opening system, almost like resident evil, where people can just crack the door and peak through. Then zombies can hide behind the door to ambush people or smack the door back knocking the survivor to the ground (maybe even add it when the fall to the floor they drop their weapon). In my mind it would work like, you press E to open the door, and you hold E to enbale "Peek mode" then one survivor can interact with the door making it so they can check the room ahead for infect. Also another aspect would be Opening the door could make a noise the zombies in the room can hear, and peeking prevents the noise from being heard.
I think that would be an amazing fear element that would add a TON of strategy and interest to the game. But also to, im certain that is quite complicated and i know you guys are going to have deadlines and such to meet. But just a thought! I love the old horror zombie games, none of todays zombie games really portray that fear like they used to.
GL! Watch your brains!
It was me vs zombie AI :)
this looks sweeeet
I love the MP5 recoil. I would have liked to have seen some firing from the hip.
I wish I had at least once to show the difference in accuracy and to show that zombies who weren't head shot took a bit to go down. But like I said it was old recordings and we didn't want to reveal too much. Look forward to more int he future as we have more from other devs around this revision.
Ammunition just laying on the floor in an office. Definitely a ZPS successor! Looking forward to seeing more in the future.
Good thing they're leaving so much ammo unlocked for you, that was nice of them.
Heh shame it's not spread out more cause all that ammo ends up running out fast. But early alpha so distribution and placement will play a role in the environment of course.
i suppose then u could make the gun do more damage and then you wouldnt need to find so much ammo
It looks like you're going for a strong single-player experience, which is a very good thing in my book.
Nice work with the iron sights effects. The center of the screen had its details become slightly sharper and the edges of the screen became slightly blurrier.
The sounds need work. Go here and listen to the best sound work I've yet heard for a game (notice how the echoes change in outside environments based on the nearness of surrounding structures and foliage, and then notice how the reverberations change based on the size and building materials of the surrounding structure):
Armaholic.com
In a game such as this, sound should play an ENORMOUS role. Imagine the tension as a player does his best to move around silently, and then hears movement from the other side of a wall covered in sheet rock! Should he shoot through the wall, or not? In fact, there should be a sound penalty for firing weapons. The louder the weapon, the harder it will be to hear softer and/or more distant sounds until one's hearing recovers.
Great on letting us see the whole body.
Use an aiming system very similar to ArmA II's. Allow leaning. Before automatically reacting with "but that gives the player a huge advantage" remember that most of the time the infected are able to respond to the player's presence very quickly. That leaning "advantage" can rapidly lead to acting like an unintentional "anchor," so that if the player isn't careful he's quickly overrun. So, it's not as huge an advantage as it seems, as the tendency is for players to stay where they're leaning, rather than taking a few shots, look about to maintain situational awareness, and then move to a different position.
And speaking of which, allow the player's head to independently rotate from the body's center. This too is a very believable.
Do whatever you can to avoid this becoming another rail shooter.
Also, in regards to how ammo is handled,it would ratchet up the tension immensely if this was done more realistically.
If one's low on ammo, then one has to FIGHT or SNEAK or BOTH to get to where it is most likely at. This would be a perfect way to get players to hold their breath in terror. I would also ensure that one AVOIDS the Serious Sam method of getting ammo/new weapon, where it automatically spawns enemies. Create an environment that actually rewards creative and tactical thinking on the player's part. Doing otherwise will lower the challenge and thus reduce the sense of accomplishment.
I would use aiming aides such as ACOGs and Aimpoints as sizable and well-earned awards. They too should be realistically placed, so that the remains of a wrecked Humvee becomes a major temptation for the player. Are those aiming aides there, or not?
Newly infected should be able to use weaponry. The sicker they become, the poorer their aim gets, and the less likely they'll even remember what a firearm is.
You sir should definitely hit up our Ideas and Suggestions thread on our forums Monochrome-games.com I just woke up from 3 hours sleep and some of that sounds interesting but not gonna remember it, so that's the perfect place.
TATSURO!!!! I'm just going to buy this game just because a neotokyo dev is in the team.
So, THIS is what L4D was supposed to be.
I won't lie, it's more of what I was hoping for when I pre-orded L4D. But L4D never lied about it's intentions to attract the casual gamer and they're still going strong. We're just excited to get the game we really want to play out there.
Me like. It looks far more realistic than L4D's take on how a zombie apocolypse would work.
I was thinking about applying for an animation position, but my only experience lies in first person animation. :| The game looks great so far, can't wait to see some more polish!
After watching that alpha footage, I definitely have to say it looks amazing on the '07 version of the engine, and the animations are just amazing. Can't wait to play it!
Our animators will be very happy to hear so much praise from you guys. They did an excellent job imho and thank you :)
Animations amazing? I know I will be flamed for this, but it is the animations that are one of the things keeping the game from looking good. This is constructive criticism and not meant to be demeaning. I know it is alpha footage and taking that into account, the transitions need a lot of cleaning up or reworking, the idles a poor, the coding needs to blend left and right movement animations so they don't spin on the spot in mid air. Also, the attack stances are awkward and remind me of a 1950's mummy movie, with their death scenes from moving to motionless on the floor with no transition. Also, drop the view perspective to the hit area as the iron sights obscure 99% of the target. (Might be better to make the entire iron sight view a lot larger to compensate) Hope this helps and you accept it in the spirit that it is offered as I think the game has a lot of potential. Thanks, keep up the fight.
No need for trolling/flaming. We're welcome to our opinions. But it would seem you're not concerned with the animations themselves just the blending and transitions (well beyond the idles). When you discuss attack stances i'm assuming you mean the zombie 3rd person setup. Like most games they drop into ragdoll on death, did you expect or are you suggesting something different? As for the iron sights we have been working on a means to make iron sights more user friendly but still accurate as they are now. Again most everything is covered in the description but appreciate the criticism :)
Looking good! Can't wait to see more :)
Lighting is the biggest issue for me, right now it's saying: this zone is safe but you see zombies coming left and right. Doesn't make sense. It should be the key in this game, if you make the right use of it, then it could be something. Don't abuse of electricity, it shouldn't be available to begin with, other than emergency lights, generators, perhaps some cars lights. I'd love to see torches, for instance.
I completely agree and if this weren't alpha footage you might be quite impressed with what's lined up :) In the end the idea is to set the right atmosphere and even with the updates since that video was recorded awhile back we still haven't hit the polish phase so it should be a sight to see. Thank you for sharing!
Freaking awesome alpha guys, im in love with it, +1 tracker
Looking professional so far.
Will there be a limit to the number of weapons and items?
I dont understand all critics about this vidéo! It's an alpha and its means its a very early work! Dont be severe! I think its a very encouraging begin! We must dont forget that the dev team has began there is few months ago only!
Yes i agree whit somepeopole. The lights are too strong, not enought dark and the zombies animation are strange, not realistic but all models, level design work and materials are great stuff. I am impatient to see the next!
Keep it up boys!
My only concern is that this will become similar in too many ways to Left 4 Dead. Take Dead Island's approach on it an add some unique environments to the game to really introduce that survival aspect, that you aren't just going from bland office building to the next. Also, try to tone down the ammo pickups similar to the orignal Resident Evils, in which there is very limited ammo. If you give the player an overload of ammo, it ruins the survival experience, in which they are more confident knowing that ammo pickups are just around the corner if they get low. Ergo, avoid Left 4 Dead's frequent ammo stashes, and go for small amounts of bullets at a time, and make it where headshots are vital to conserve ammo, and there you go, you will have successfully implemented survival into a survival-horror game, instead of just an FPS with zombies in it.
All of the previous was meant to be taken as constructive criticism.
-Foof898