Announcing No More Room in Hell 2 at Summer Game Fest was a surreal experience, and we’ve seen you asking to hear more about the creative process that goes into creating our game, and more behind-the-scenes looks. When we brought this to our artists, they got excited to tell our community about how they create the assets using our SMART material pipeline.
For those that haven’t heard the term ‘material pipeline’ before, Art Lead Jonathan Wiley (aka Cenelder) offers this explanation, “For those of you unfamiliar with what a "material pipeline" is, let me explain! When a prop is built in a 3d software, it is initially a flat colour (usually millennial grey). It doesn't have the grit, grime, paint, or colours that you would expect to see on a prop. So we can peel that prop like a banana, colour on the banana peel, and then wrap the peel back around the banana. The "material" is that props "banana peel," and defines how light plays on the surface, the colour, or how rough/smooth/shiny it is. Materials can be very simple, or very complex with built in procedural elements like darkening the ends of the banana. All of this talk about materials is making me hungry.”
While building the Power Plant (the sprawling first map for NMR2), we wanted everything created and placed by hand. It's a key part of our ability to create the most cinematic player experience, and tell stories within our key locations.
In talking to Wiley about SMART material pipeline, he spoke to the limitations that came with last gen tech, and what it meant to upgrade to SMART, a system created in-house by a collaboration between our Art and Tech teams that was built upon UE’s Custom Primitive Data system, for No More Room in Hell 2.
Before we upgraded to SMART, the process was more painstaking. Textures were authored externally; unique for some props, or using seamless materials that looked flat. You could place expensive decals all over the asset to bring some of that realism back, or create complicated detailed texture trims that you had to line the prop up to. “We didn't have enough geometry to be able to vert bake in details for edges, or concave. So things had more unique masks applied to them, or manual vert blending in limited capacity like adding moss to a structure,” says Wiley.
“But now we can bake the verts and recreate texturing tools inside the engine to very quickly modify the look in real time without having to make new materials. So we can change edgewear, grim buildup, and see the change in real time in Unreal Engine.”
What are verts though, and why does it matter when it comes to creating details? “Basically we need enough geometry to be able to shade each vertex correctly,” says Paul Carstens, Principal Environment Artist. “Kinda like pixels on a screen, the more pixels the more detailed the image and the opposite obvs. More geo equals more detailed vertex shading for the SMART system to use”
Every prop, location, & item is handcrafted with the goal of fleshing out and bringing to life a unique, planned, and designed world, but that takes an immense amount of effort from our artists. Having a system in place to quickly adjust an asset on the fly to suit the place, the style, and the overall filth or grime saves our artists time and helps iterate on concept.
A fire hydrant by the Gas Station shows the effects of the SMART System in action.
Our team spoke to what they’ve enjoyed about the changes SMART has brought to assets, and here’s what they love about this new process:
“The speed at which they can produce fairly decent looking assets. “
“Texturing/Surfacing speed (we can texture/surface an asset in minutes now compared to hours; Ability to change the appearance of a prop in Real-time in-editor (add rust, dirt, wear, etc.); Ability to have variants of surface treatment on the same source object; and Performance (huge performance gains project wide).”
“It has helped to increase the consistency and fidelity of all art assets while also reducing the time necessary to achieve that quality.”
A different angle of the Fire Hydrant showing the SMART material changes, such as the colour becoming less saturated.
Wiley added, “It also helps with art direction and feedback cycles - we can ask for changes knowing that the artist isn't redoing their work, but just tuning a few values on the asset instance. It also lets us quickly swap material types on an asset - so you can take a wooden asset, and apply a burned wood material to it and it looks fantastic. Much easier to "kit-bash" assets into new context.”
What makes this all exciting for players is the amount of incredible detail and variation we’re able to put into each and every part of NMR2’s environments. With one of our goals being to make NMR2 feel truly grounded and realistic - as if you were experiencing a zombie apocalypse in your own neighborhood - this is just one example of how one of our talented team’s production techniques is helping to take the sequel to the next level.
Welcome SMART materials to NMR2, and we look forward to sharing more behind the scenes looks at how the game is coming together.
In the meantime, enjoy a final comment on the SMART system from Wiley. “Also I get to use a lot of big words when talking about it so it makes me look smart.”
(We would argue that he always looks smart.)
Take care Responders, and we’ll see you in August!
The Art Behind It All Segment Highlight
Concept art is more than just drawing a plan for a 3D artist to follow. Behind the 3D models, our artists pull from a variety of influences and references to evoke the feeling, the horror, and the fear that a player will be stepping into.
We took the time to speak to Pat Ingoldsby, our Art Director, about how the team viewed Light and Darkness, and played with it when setting the scenes. Players can explore in the darkness, hoping to avoid Zombies, or use their flashlight, which could alert fellow Responders to their location. There are tradeoffs, risks, and rewards for choices, even if it’s just about turning the lights on.
Our Responders don’t have to tackle risky situations alone though! No More Room in Hell 2 delves into the idea of ‘Survive Together or Die Alone’, encouraging players to work together, whether to hold off a zombie horde while trying to get out, or coming together to protect a Responder working to complete a vital mission.
We look forward to sharing more of our behind the scenes art with our community.
June has been a thrilling month for No More Room in Hell 2!
We announced No More Room in Hell 2, a terrifying 8 player co-op action horror experience at Summer Games Fest with our trailer, along with Lever Games’ acquisition by Torn Banner. If you missed that trailer, we have you covered.
With our FIRST Dev Diary, we spoke about what fans can expect of No More Room in Hell 2, how we will be bringing Co-op with Consequences to your game, and what parts of the game excite us to work on!
The dev diary goes over the gameplay, co-op, permadeath, our first map & the grounded horror in NMR2.
Watch the whole dev diary below, or catch highlights on our social channels!
And we had a LIVESTREAM! Our TB Community Managers talked to Torn Banner and Lever Games veterans about No More Room in Hell 2, showed off part of the map in the game engine, and responded to YOUR questions!
It has been wonderful to connect with the community and share all of this with you, and we are looking forward to the Early Access launch on Halloween 2024.
As June comes to a close, we want to take a moment to let the community know what to expect between now and Early Access.
We will continue to have monthly Dev Blogs and will be engaging with our community on our social channels. Expect our next Dev Blogs to deliver deeper looks at what is in NMR2 and coming to Early Access with behind-the-scenes looks at parts of the game we haven’t shown yet! We will be a little quieter on our social channels over the coming months as we prepare for Halloween and the road to launch, but come by to say hi to us in our Discord and stay tuned!
Where players start affects how they experience the game. Whether your character wakes up in a wagon, wakes up with a new glowing hand, or comes to while riding a tram, your iconic start sets your expectations. It can also set the tension.
Responders start in the dark, and you’ll likely want to seek light like moths to flames. Jonathan Wiley, Art Lead, has taken us down one of the many paths towards the Gas Station, a location inspired by classic zombie media.
With branching paths and other interests just within Responders reach, decisions need to be made. Continue towards your destination, or try another route in the hopes of finding something you can use to defend yourself? Look for another Responder, or tackle an objective alone?
We can also see the world on pause. Players are in what Jon calls an active apocalypse, and we see how the world has reacted to the ensuing emergency, and how that has changed the landscape as we would know it.
Players can expect to find many points of interest and locations to investigate through the map, while figuring out where they’ve spawned and how to survive it.
No More Room in Hell 2 is coming to Early Access for Halloween 2024, and while there is still plenty in store to talk about in the months ahead, we wanted to take time to talk about what has been shown in further detail - Permadeath, 8 Player Co-op, and the map!
Permadeath The No More Room in Hell 2 team wanted to bring in intense emotional feelings, and dive into the high stakes that a player will face during a zombie apocalypse. There is the chance to survive a match and make it to the extraction relatively safely , and bring that responder back into the game, a little wiser and a little more prepared, but there’s also a chance you’ll bring that responder back in, and lose them during the next match.
8 Player Co-op Collaborate, Co-operate, and Survive together! With an emphasis on working together, Responders will need to find each other in the darkness and come together to solve objectives, eventually making their way to the Power Plant through zombie-infested locations.
Massive Map The Power Plant is just the start. With multiple spawn points, places to explore, and objectives to complete, we’re excited for this to be the map we open up for Early Access. While we can’t reveal much about others yet, we’re very excited for what the future holds.
As we announced on Friday, June 7th, Lever Games is now a part of Torn Banner Studio!
We sat down to speak with Narrative Lead Matt Kazan (Originally of Lever Games) about the decision to look for assistance in developing No More Room in Hell 2, and what prompted finding someone that could work with Lever Games in the follow-up to their still playable award-winning 2011 Source Mod, and our Game Director Leif Walter about Torn Banner stepping into the horror game space.
A key driver to wanting to work with another studio is that game development takes a lot of time. When the developers were younger, they had more time, but now as they get older and have families, it became more difficult to work full time, then come home to work on No More Room in Hell 2. The team really wanted to take the time though, and find the studio that matched their passion and enthusiasm for the project.
For Torn Banner, it made sense. Here was a great opportunity to work on a horror game that aligned their key inspirations for a zombie game, had a shared heritage as modders, and a deep connection on how the two teams approached game design.
Like Zombies and Brains, Lever Games and Torn Banner came together to work on No More Room in Hell 2, continuing the vision of playing through a zombie movie with your friends to bring the cinematic experience to our community.
No More Room in Hell 2 enters Early Access Halloween 2024, wishlist now!
No More Room in Hell 2 at the 2024 PC Gaming Show!
Our announcement trailer at Summer Game Fest was just the start!
We have more to share about No More Room in Hell 2 and the team developing it with our first official Dev Diary: Co-op with Consequences! Hear from the game’s development team as they go into greater detail about what you can expect in the active apocalypse.
No More Room in Hell 2 is an intense permadeath co-op journey into the eerie darkness of zombie-infested zones. As an emergency responder, you must survive, scavenge, stockpile and fulfill your mission - then repeat, each time in an ever-changing experience.
As Matt Kazan (Narrative Lead) puts it in the Dev Diary, “Imagine playing through a Zombie movie with your friends.”
Highlights from the dev diary -
Permadeath
No More Room in Hell 2 brings true Co-op with Consequences with the use of permadeath. Leif Walter (Game Director) explains “You need some stakes, there needs to be consequences for failure. And that’s where permadeath comes in, where we got really inspired by some rogue-like games”. The addition of permadeath creates an interesting gameplay dynamic, Steve Piggott (Torn Banner CEO & Creative Director) adds: “So it almost feels like it’s a cliff that you’re constantly climbing and it’s just hard to stay on that cliff because you’re losing the character after a couple of runs.”
Social Dynamics
8 players will come together to explore a large map, working together to survive against the horde while completing objectives - often with some interesting social friction. “There are some social dynamics at play where there is no hostility between players, but you might have your own agenda, you might want to complete your own goals. What will your group want to do?” - Leif Walter.
An Ocean of Darkness
At its core, No More Room in Hell 2 is a horror experience, and lighting, or a lack thereof, is as much a character in the game as any player, and plays a vital role to the setting. “We really wanted to wrap the player in this feeling where it’s so dark and it’s so high contrast that the player can’t trust his surroundings.” - Pat Ingoldsby (Art Director).
To find out even more, tune in to our first official Livestream on June 11th, which will feature NMR2 Devs discussing a wide range of topics, and a Q&A with questions from you!
No More Room in Hell 2 Announced at Summer Game Fest 2024!
Prepare yourself for the terrifying 8 player co-op action horror experience of No More Room in Hell 2 - coming Halloween 2024 from Torn Banner Studios.
View the announcement trailer, first revealed during Summer Game Fest 2024: No More Room in Hell 2 is an intense permadeath co-op journey into the eerie darkness of zombie-infested zones. As an emergency responder you must survive, scavenge, stockpile and fulfill your mission - then repeat, each time in an ever-changing experience.
No More Room in Hell 2’s original developer, Lever Games, was acquired by Torn Banner, the studio behind Chivalry 1 & 2, and the original “Age of Chivalry” mod. Led by a core team of veterans from Torn Banner and Lever Games, the majority of the previous No More Room in Hell 2 team continues to work at the studio on the sequel.
A commercial release in the same world as the 2011 award-winning Source mod, players start isolated in the dark, find their friends, and try to survive in a dynamic, endlessly replayable zombie apocalypse. With enemies and map locations inspired by classic horror cinema, No More Room in Hell 2 will instill terror into players while offering fresh, tactical gameplay, high-stakes permadeath, and intricate combat design that rewards teamwork and grit.
Find your way to your teammates with proximity voice chat and grow together in power. Each match, you’ll go from spawning in the darkness with a flashlight, to forming a fully stocked 8-player co-op squad with assault rifles and explosives. An ever-present threat remains: if a responder dies, all of their progress is lost.
“No More Room in Hell 2 continues the dark, grounded aesthetic and intense action horror approach of the original game while expanding its vision dramatically,” said Steve Piggott, CEO and creative director at Torn Banner Studios. “We’re excited to be the new shepherds of a franchise we adored as fans and we’re thrilled to take up the mission of capturing the iconic horror of classic zombie cinema. We want to blow people away with our first co-op game, pushing Torn Banner’s skill in multiplayer action to a whole new level.”
Powered by Unreal Engine 5, No More Room in Hell 2 is a co-op game with consequences coming to early access on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store this Halloween.
We look forward to sharing more with our community over the next month with more details coming during the PC Gaming Show on June 9th, a Torn Banner Studios Twitch livestream on June 11th, plus multiple blogs exploring details of No More Room in Hell 2.
Join our Discord to stay connected with the NMR2 community and to interact with our community team!
Watch yourselves out there, Responders
May Development Blog
Hello Survivors! Welcome to May’s Development Blog where we have survivors looking forward with cautious curiosity, and preparing to take a swing at whatever lies ahead for them.
Your sweaty hands slip on the handle as you attempt to look around the corner for what is coming next. The way your heart jumps into your throat as you speculate what that sound could be, maybe another survivor? Someone who can help? Hope vanishes as you hear a gurgle and ripping sound, and the heart that was in your throat drops as you shift your grip on your fire axe.
Not a survivor.
When it comes to horror there is a lot of emotion that is carried by the unknown. Behind the scenes we are aware of what we want our players to be experiencing, to be questioning every sound, every shadow, every movement at the corner of their eye. Concept Art is vital to sharing how we can deliver that feeling. It's in the lighting of the scene, the placement of bodies, where an encounter takes place, and even how many players we think will be around. They also cover how a location should be laid out for players
What story do you see?
There are very few weapons that can tell the story of survival in the early stages of an outbreak like a Fire Axe can. A useful tool that could open doors to save others, it doubles as a weapon one can shove or swing with when dealing with the undead scourge as it awakens. For a survivor looking to get out of urban centres, a fire axe can help clear the way of former occupants.
In No More Room in Hell 2, the Fire Axe can be helpful to shove zombies back, and strike as an overhead head with a powerful 2-handed grip. Unlike the hatchet, the Fire Axe swings slower but with an extended reach, and a harder hit. Along with being a classic weapon against zombies for crowd control, it is also great to deal with any doors and barricades you come across.
Keep it sharp, practice your swings, and you may find that a Fire Axe becomes your new favorite tool in your arsenal.
SinisterWays.wav
What’s around the next turn? The call to leave, get out, to run is so strong, but running makes noise, noise attracts attention, attention brings trouble, and you cannot always outrun trouble.
What happens when trouble finds you?
The uneasy feeling is replaced by something more terrifying, more sinister that embeds itself in your chest, clawing upwards, aiming for your brains. The infection takes over.
