Contagion VR: Outbreak
Weekly Update
This is a special announcement for our Lead Programmer Victor. He will be stepping down by the end of the month and passing on the torch. We all appreciate the hard work Victor has put into the project Contagion VR: Outbreak. Though he may venture anew into the world, we have nothing, but the best wishes for him.
Down below I provided a link to his website, twitter and twitch if you would like to follow Victor through his following projects.
https://twitter.com/VictorBurgosG3
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
http://www.victorburgosgames.com/
What does this mean for Contagion VR: Outbreak?
It only means that Victor will be working the next few weeks to fix bugs, last touch ups and prep Lawrence on his future work. The Schedule and timeline for Contagion VR: Outbreak Mission 2 + 3 will not be affected.
With all that said, Victor has left some easter eggs in the game for all to find! Keep an eye out for them!
Good things are still coming!
And don’t be afraid to join our discord with fellow survivors to thank Victor for all his work. This week's devblog will be incorporated into next week's.
Weekly Dev Blog November Week 3!
This week I’ve been working on mission 2 (now in playtesters hands). I’ve worked with Victor on fleshing out some of the gameplay design as well as implementing some more optimized versions of some of the assets. Turns out several of our assets needed a reduction in the number of material slots, so those are now in with more on the way to hopefully result in a smoother experience for everyone. I also managed to wrap up all the pre-production work on the 3rd mission level and am currently doing a bit of R&D for mission 4 as I start planning that out. As always here’s a screenshot of day 2 in mission 2 (work in progress) showing a sandstorm.
Victor
This week has been about polishing up and adding new gameplay elements to Day One of Vacancy. Will be out to testers shortly. Also ran into a random engine bug that had no real information attached to it and it took some digging to fix, so quite a bit of time was wasted on that.
Color Memorization Mini Game:
https://gyazo.com/228addc6b060334c099b7f8fe859fd15
Alex
Been a while since I’ve done an update here! The last two weeks I have been working on cleaning up the materials on a lot of the older character assets we have been using, with the goal of bringing down the draw calls on stuff that might be happening en-masse on screen (ie the zombies). We’ve learned a lot about the Unreal 4 workflow during the development of Contagion VR, particularly with when it comes to performance. So many of the original models/materials/etc were set up pretty poorly in that regard, so this cleanup effort will likely mean more higher/ more stable FPS across the board.
I’ve also been working on creating unique destructible meshes for all our melee weapons. In the past, only a couple of the weapons had bespoke broken versions to use, and everything else was, regrettably, using the baseball bat. That will no longer be the case! Check out the preview video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aieIfXwQbno
Brian
This week I have been focusing on the audio for the riot boss, and Vacancy level. With all the new interactable objects introduced in this upcoming campaign, there is certainly no shortage of audio work needing to be done! As well as the new sfx work being undertaken, we have also been working with the WWISE team to fix some reliability issues we have discovered in the API.. but as we caught it before this new content goes live, we can get it resolved properly with no hacky workarounds.
Lawrence & Paul
This week we have been going pedal to the metal on getting the second part of the Vacancy campaign ready for testers. From boss fights, to runners, to wave defense segments, to rescuing bands of survivors, there is a load of new content included that needs to be coded and dialled in to make this experience all it can be, and an absolute ton of animation work to bring it all to life. That being said, I believe this is a real change from the existing campaign and should be exciting to experience!
Weekly Dev Blog November Week 2!
My time this week was divided between the up and coming mission 2 level, but as we expect to have that done in the near future I took this week to revisit our mission 3 level and get that ready for full production. Mission 3 is tentatively called “Charlie” and takes place in an old classic style mansion. We do not want to talk yet about the mission itself as it pertains to gameplay, but it’s going to be unique to anything we have yet done so far and hope you will like it! As always, here are a couple of teaser shots, enjoy!
Victor
This week was all about getting Mission 2, Vacancy into the testers hands. And I am happy to report that Day 1 (there are two days) is complete and in testing. Other than testing and bug-fixing Day 1, I added new events to the Event Manager and consolidated a lot of Dialogue logic into one simple Dialogue Event Manager for 2-way conversations with NPCs as well as talking to oneself.
Alex
I’ve been tying together the art, scripting, and game-play for the new mission, Vacancy. Nothing super glamorous yet, just giving a second pass to the groundwork laid down by Lawrence and Paul. There should be some cool stuff to show on that front soon though. Other than that, I’ve been helping Brian here and there with some minor audio related blueprint work problems. This blog is going to be kind of short cause there just isn’t too much to talk about (or even screenshots to take!). Hopefully next week should bring some better goodies to the table.
Brian
This week I have been putting together the audio needed for the upcoming missions, from creating general sound effects and migrating ue4 audio sound effects to WWISE, to all the dialogs we need for initial play-testing. I have also got to the bottom of the audio distortion in Dustbowl and at the same time improved performance (they were both tied together, the issue was an excess of spatialization portals causing the sound engine to overload).
Lawrence & Paul
This week we have been creating the latest high-threat archetype: the “Boss Riot”. Similar in appearance to the original riot, this version has more health, does more damage, and a massively upgraded attack system with a powerful ground-pound area attack, and a high-energy charge that the player will have to dodge (or risk getting trampled) – but should you trick it into smashing into a wall, it will get staggered allowing you to get those killing shots in.
https://giant.gfycat.com/AnnualIgnorantAcaciarat.webm
How To Play Contagion VR: Outbreak (Quick Start Guide)
How to Play
Hey everyone! There seems to be a lot of questions on how to play the game.
Truthfully, the very first thing you should do if you are brand new is to
Play the Tutorial
Nothing beats it. If you just try to jump into Outbreak mission, you are going to run into a lot of issues.
This game isn't some arcade shooter, so you will need to actually pay attention to your surroundings and also voice acting. (I do apologize to our foreign friends, you will have to suffice with subtitles in the tutorial for now. Missions will be subtitled in the near future as well)
Don't try to get through the game like you're on some speedrun. Take your time and explore. We have put a lot of time and effort into every single level, so enjoy it to the fullest.
There are plenty of easter eggs as well.
With that said here are some things that seem to still be unclear and we'll be improving on the experience in the future.
Recap
- Play the Tutorial that we carefully crafted to help you start your adventures!
- Take your time in the game and explore!
- Pay attention to audio and enviornmental clues!
Saving/Loading
Slot Saving was introduced in Update 3.
- To Save, find a candle and use the lighter right by it (Eject, then Trigger)
- To Load, use your watch menu
Slot Saving
[video="https://i.gyazo.com/ebedea31cc2f1b7a1e43526789271833.gif" autoplay="autoplay" preload="preload" loop="loop" poster=""]https://i.gyazo.com/ebedea31cc2f1b7a1e43526789271833.mp4[/video]
So basically, these candles are one-time use only. You grab the lighter and press EJECT to open up the Lighter, then USE to light the Lighter. Light up the candle, wait a second for it to burn and then the Slot Saves will appear. Pick one (remember which one) and viola, all your stuff is saved at that point.
Loading
Loading is done via the Watch Menu:
[video="https://i.gyazo.com/b62db2c8263cef70287c06827140fecd.gif" autoplay="autoplay" preload="preload" loop="loop" poster=""]https://i.gyazo.com/b62db2c8263cef70287c06827140fecd.mp4[/video]
And you'll automatically load into the Ready Room
Recap
- Find and light Candles to bring up a Save Screen
- Use the lighters to light Candles
- Use your Watch Menu to Load Games (at any time)
Weapon Handling
Use grip to grab weapons. Firearms have some more complex interactions. Use TRIGGER to change firing rates or to rack a slide back.
Magazine Reload is also manual. The tutorial has a nice part that teaches you all this. So play it ːsteammockingː
Recap
- Lots of moving parts
- Should go through tutorial to understand how to use them
Free Roam
Something to do while waiting for missions is to play Free Roam. We've recently added Resource Gathering and Crafting. We also expanded the map to include Dustbowl! There's also a Firing Range that you can practice your firearm skills with that will have more gamemode added in the future.
Recap
- Exploration Mode (every update brings new maps, making it bigger!)
- Firing Range to practice skills
- Resource Gathering
- Crafting
Multiplayer
We currently only have the Hunted gamemode available. It's a PvP mode. Last Survivor Standing. If there are more than 2 players in the game, you will turn into a zombie when you die so that you can take revenge on those who hurt you!
Coop gamemode(s) incoming in an update very soon.
Recap
- Last Survivor Standing
- Can turn into Zombies when you die
- Coop modes coming soon
Early Access
Remember, we are still in Early Access, just releasing 4 months ago. We are constantly looking for and trying to improve the game, your valuable feedback helps a great deal.
Please consider writing a review after playing. If you have bugs, please post them on Steam or on Discord. https://discord.gg/monochrome
Recap
- We want more reviews!
- We want more feedback!
- You don't have to post a review if you just want to give feedback, you can use Steam or Discord to do so!
Update 4 Full Release!
Summary
Hey all, after a successful alpha and beta, we are happy to present to you Update 4 in Full Release!
Lots of bug fixes, general user experience improvements, menu options, audio fixes and the first expansion to Free Roam. You will also notice when you start, you will launch into our new Main Menu.
As with every major release, if you ever find something strange happening in your game, we highly recommend Verifying File Integrity.
Please submit bug reports either on Steam or on our Discord (faster responses and can real-time chat with devs as well as the other 1600 members!): https://discord.gg/monochrome
Update 5 will have a revamp of firearm weapon interactions as well as a fleshed out experience in the "shooting range". We are also looking into Mission 2 finally gracing you all with its appearance.
Lastly, don't forget to update or leave reviews!
Without further ado here are Update 4's Release Notes:
New Additions
- Main Menu
- Resource Gathering
- Recipes
- Resource Inventory
- Crafting
- Dustbowl is now accessible in Free Roam via a car
New Menu Options
- Grip Angle Adjustment
- Floor Height Adjustment
- Advanced Graphics Settings
- Difficulty Settings
- Audio Settings
Improved
- Tutorial has added "tidits" at the end (currently not localized)
- Audio added or modified in practically all levels (we might still be missing some, please comment if you find any audio missing!) making the UE4 to WWise full-integration much closer.
- Audio performance has increased
- Shooting Range down in the basement of the Free Roam apartment complex now has an easier way to interact with it (more gamemodes to come in the next update!)
- Zombies now “feel” pain, should give better visual feedback that they have been hit
- Free Roam now has “two-way transportation”, be it via doors or cars, like you would expect in real-life.
- Removed Kitchen Candle Save in Outbreak as it was causing too many issues, but added a special Checkpoint Save when getting the bedroom key
- Made firearm interactive parts flash shorter and only plays once per grip and everytime you are out of ammo (can be disabled via Immersion Mode)
- Zombies hit more reliably when player is rushing past them.
- Added more placed batteries in Outbreak campaign
- Flashlight is now energy efficient - Increased flashlight battery life by 50%!
- Can only save in Apartment for Free Roam, but all items socketed will now load in bedroom shelves.
- If you die in Free Roam, you will be transported back to the Apartment with all progress lost, reloading the previous Free Roam save.
Bug Fixes
- Multiplayer is working again and should be easier to get into games, even after just leaving one.
- Zombies no longer always get distracted by barricades if it’s pushed aside and the player is right in front of them.
- Zombies now save properly.
- Watch alarm only plays in Tutorial start now (or when close to death)
- Keycards can now be held and will be saved while transitioning between levels
- The Audio issues in Dustbowl when high ping was introduced are no more
- Fixed shooting range wall-mounted firearms that were sticking to the walls after releasing them...by deleting them.
- Fixed a crapton of random Interim, Campaign and Free Roam save issues
- Ziplines now reset properly when letting go of them
- When using toggle grip, hands won’t break when inserting single rounds into shotguns
- Can no longer teleport out of containers in Dustbowl Multiplayer
- Dead servers (servers with 0 players.. 0/6) should no longer show up.
- Car crash should no longer reset on Outbreak city map load.
- And many more bugs squashed that didn't make the list.
Have you been keeping up with what's been going on lately?
Summary
Every week or so, we put together a "behind the scenes" development blog on our website: http://www.contagion-outbreak.com
You can keep track of the dev blog links on the forums as well:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/676840/discussions/6/1746720717333580748
Link to last week's Dev Blog
http://www.contagion-outbreak.com/2018/10/13/weekly-dev-blog-october-week-2/
Text Version of last week's Dev Blog
Jason
This week other than completing the level art for the new main menu map (I hope you like it!), I’ve been adding more varied lighting to Vertigo, and more importantly adding in those vertical pathing options like scaffolding sections and ladders.
Victor
This week’s been all about the options options options. Between refactoring logic, cleaning up the menu UI, adding new elements, I’ve added support for changing the floor height (increments and decrements by .5 cms), so it should take care of those edge cases where floor isn’t calibrated correctly for whatever reason. Also added Grip Angle adjustments (+/- 1 degree). For Vive/WMR they start at 0, Rift players will start at 60. Also added difficulty modes, which (for now anyway) will adjust zed HP levels and attack damage.
- Newb – Will allow one-headshot kills for most cases, easier to dismember zombies, and lower attack damage
- Normal – Basically how we envisioned the gameplay
- Hard – For those that aren’t challenged enough, takes more headshot to down zeds, harder to dismember and higher atk damage
- Contagion – For those crazy enough to try this, I’ll be making sure to have a special achievement for you all.
We want to do more with difficulty levels, but for now this was quick and easy to implement.
Other than that, bug killing like always.
Alex
I’ve been tying together the art, scripting, and gameplay for the new mission, Vacancy. Nothing super glamorous yet, just giving a second pass to the groundwork laid down by Lawrence and Paul. There should be some cool stuff to show on that front soon though. Other than that, I’ve been helping Brian here and there with some minor audio related blueprint work problems. This blog is going to be kind of short cause there just isn’t too much to talk about (or even screenshots to take!). Hopefully next week should bring some better goodies to the table.
Brian & Lawrence
This week we have been working further on the dynamic audio framework for items – we have refined and iterated upon the hinge-based interactables, and put into place a rather juicy setup for “sloshy” interactables. Also we got to the bottom of the “off” fadeout of the UH 60 flyby audio, fixed some issues with the saving of the audio controls, put in place saving of the graphics options (at last!), and finally fixed the “front flipping soldier” (see before and after below)
Paul
Few days ago I wrapped up all the core animations and ABP framework for main gameplay segments in Mission 2. Now it is being passed along the pipeline to Alex to hook it up with the actual gameplay.
With that being completed, I am redirecting my efforts into the polish animation pass which means creating background NPCs, cinematic sequences and all the juicy details that make the level immersive and alive.
Discord
Come join over 1600 Contagion owners/fans on our Discord, chat up with the devs in realtime and/or find people to play with!
https://discord.gg/monochrome
Want to have a sneak peek at Update 4? Alpha is open.
Summary
For those adventurous and maybe a bit impatient souls, we've opened up Alpha so you can try out a few cool things we're doing for Update 4.
Main Menu
Complete redesign of how players first enter the world of Contagion VR: Outbreak.
From initial concept to help with User Experience issues:
(my pro art skillz)
to the "end result":
(Let me know if the latest news feed actually does help keep you more informed and increase positive reviewsːsteammockingː)
- Take a glance each time you load up to see if anyone's waiting in a MP game, join in with your watch.
- Play the tutorial and campaign missions using an easy to understand (hopefully) selection system.
- Finally, go out the door to enter "Free Roam" mode, where you can now go out to Dustbowl (find the right car and open the door, sorry, forgot to put a sign upːsteamfacepalmː)
Menu Options
Pretty sure this has been a feature request for a good while... you can now adjust your GRIP ANGLE and they save out. Please let me know ASAP how you like it, if it's intuitive, needs work, etc.
Not only that, but you can also adjust the FLOOR HEIGHT.
Along with that, there's also a DIFFICULTY LEVEL options. Currently, it's pretty basic, but we'll be adding more to it. It affect zombies health and attack damage. In the future we're thinking it'll affect a lot of other things as well.
- Grip Angle Adjustment
- Floor Height Adjustment
- Difficulty Levels
Free Roam & Crafting
You can see the direction we're heading with this. Hopefully it'll give you all a reason to play the game while waiting on new campaign missions.
- Check out the shooting range for some interesting new gamemodes
- Find resources out and about in the City and Dustbowl to use to craft
- Go down to the basement and use the resources you've found to craft some new stuff
Discord
https://discord.gg/monochrome
As always jump onto Discord where there's over 1600 Surivors waiting to chat, we're on there as well! Just jump on and let us know what you think about the game, what you like, what you don't like and how we can improve!
Dev Live Stream - Update 4 and Beyond
Summary
Alright, I'm back with dev live streams. If you don't want to come over to Twitch or YouTube, you can watch on the Store Page actually. I'll have the chat open.
Regardless, hit me up about the current status of the project, bugs you've encountered, ideas you have to improve the game, or just lurk and watch me work ːsteammockingː
Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/victorburgosgames
Discord
Join us on Discord for real-time chat! Over 1500 fellow Survivors !
https://discord.gg/monochrome
Known Issue With Starting Multiplayer Games
Summary
Hey all, it's been awhile. I just got back from Oculus Connect 5 and have been hard at work getting caught up and back in the saddle.
There's a known issue with Multiplayer games starting up. It's been fixed and we will be pushing it to testers first among a few other changes.
Either this will come out as a hotfix very soon, or just come out in Update 4 along with Free Roaming expansion, Resource Gathering, Crafting, Shooting Range mini-games and more!
Streaming
I'll get back to streaming devlopement as soon as I can. I have my head down focused on getting stuff done.
What to expect soon
A new roadmap. While we actually aren't that off-track (the only thing that didn't get done last month was character customizations), I think it'll be easier and more digestable if we divide it up into Updates versus Monthly.
Misison 2 is still being worked on. But I'll be honest, it needs a lot of love. It still hasn't made it into testers hands. Mission 2 should be coming out in Update 5.
Discord
Hop onto our discord to chat in realtime with the devs and fellow Survivors!
https://discord.gg/monochrome
AMA on Twitch, check out Crafting and Free Roam progress!
Summary
Join me on this sweet TGIF stream either on Twitch or right here on Steam via Broadcasts, right now.
Ask Me Anything you want and also watch me work on Crafting and Free Roam for Update 4.
Twitch
https://twitch.tv/victorburgosgames
Reviews!!
If you've played the game already and haven't done a review, please consider leaving one!
If you've already left a review, please consider editing it after playing Update 3! A lot of improvements have been made since launch, but a lot of reviews still only reflect the launch sadly ːsteamsadː