Update 5 – Mission 2 Live!

Update 5 – Mission 2 Live!

Greetings!  First off we want to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas and a happy holidays!  Thank you all for being so patient while waiting for the next major update which we are happy to announce is coming out… NOW!

  

First off, we would like to officially announce that we have promoted Lawrence to lead programmer on the project. Lawrence is moving up the ranks to fill in for Victor who decided he wanted to take a break and work on his own project. While we are always sorry to see someone leave the team, we are already seeing Lawrence step up and prove he’s not just able to fill those shoes but making huge strides which means good things are coming!

When we first started working on Outbreak, we had set a very high bar for ourselves and the game, but with the realization that we are a small team of just 6 full time developers, we have made the decision to down scope some of the previously planned features.  While we expect there to be some disappointed faces out there, we believe this decision will allow us to deliver a much better, less buggy, and more satisfying game to you, our amazing supporters.

Without a doubt you are wondering what will be getting shelved.  First before we get to that, we want to make it very clear that nothing is for certain being permanently shelved, but instead put on hold for the short term until such time that it is feasible to resume working on them again.  That said, the following will be put on hold until such time as the core aspects of the game are less buggy, and we have more playable missions delivered.

The following are being set aside for the time being while we focus on bug fixing, and new playable missions.

  • Multiplayer

  • Crafting

  • Free Roam

  • Shooting Range

In the near future, we will be re-releasing an updated version of our public roadmap that reflects the shifting of priorities amongst the team, and how that will positively impact the overall quality and increase the amount of playable content in the game.  Rest assured that those who have been patiently awaiting news about a Playstation 4 version of the game, we will also be able to inform you on the happenings therin, stay tuned!

Regarding the save load system, the current implementation has had more than its share of problems, so much in fact that it’s been slowing progress in other areas of the game and thus we decided unanimously amongst the team to scrap the current one and start a new, less complex iteration.  No longer will players need to manually choose when to save by using candles, instead the new system will be checkpoints that are saved automatically at key points of the campaign. The difference with this new checkpoint system once implemented, will be that you will no longer be able to manually load up a save point in a level, however this brings us to our next important change to the game which is also now live in this update, which is our revised and upgraded menu.

Players can now from the main menu room, load into individual portions of each single player campaign.  For example, if you want to start playing from the moment you enter the apartment in mission 1 and bypass the starting garage and lobby you can do so!  Or if you want to play through the city portion of Outbreak, you can do so directly from the main menu level! We felt this change was necessary in order to compensate for removing the save load system, and starting a new one.  This change is live effective immediately, enjoy!

Now for the really good stuff!  We are proud to present to you, mission 2 which is simply called Vacancy.  Without giving too much away, mission 2 takes place in a familiar area to anyone whos actually played multiplayer on the map called Dustbowl.  Vacancy uses this location to tell it’s story of what happened, before things went so horribly wrong. We’re proud of the work we put into this mission, and hope you enjoy playing it as much as we have enjoyed working on it!  

Also included in this update is the addition of a new zombie archetype simply called the runner.  Runners are exactly what the name implies, if they spot you, they charge at you much faster than other zombies.  They also have the ability to navigate in ways that make them more nimble and able to vault over obstacles instead of needing to run around them.  If you see one, we recommend you deal with it swiftly as you won’t be outrunning them we assure you!

For everyone who has supported us by purchasing the game, taken the time to leave us a review, or given feedback about how we’re doing, we want to give you a big shout out and say thanks!  It really does make all the difference in the world for us to constantly be getting fresh points of view about the game, it really does. So on that note, we hope everyone who’s taking some time off for the holidays (just like we are planning to do!), spends a little time checking out this update and updating their reviews, or posting a new one to let us know what you think of the game in its current iteration.  As always, please come visit us on Discord and say hello! We are always happy to see new faces, and it’s a great way to stay on top of news related to the game and ask us questions directly! From all of us at Monochrome, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holidays, we’ll see you next update!

https://discord.gg/monochrome

Update 5 Changelog

New Additions

  • Mission: Vacancy

  • Zombie Archetype: Runner

  • Zombie Archetype : Riot Boss

  • Firearm: Glock22

  • Firearm: 590A1 (Pump Shotgun)

  • Explosive: Propane Tank (Carryable)

  • NPC: Survivors (Escort and extract)

  • Gameplay: Defense (Prison Bus)

Updated Content

  • Phone now has flashlight (reload toggle on/off)

  • Main Menu (Load Direct Level Support)

  • Mission Outbreak: Reworked Finale

  • Replaced all UE4 audio with WWise audio

  • Refactor Dialogue System

  • Refactor Scripting Manager

  • Optimize Level Art (ongoing)

  • Removed Save Load System (Checkpoints coming soon!)

  • Removed Subtitle System (Being rewritten)

Bug Fixes

  • Save Load Issues! (no more save load!)

    • New checkpoint system will be online soon!

  • Outbreak Mission

    • Missing/Incorrect chained dialogues fixed

    • Missing music events fixed

    • Wife floating in street fixed

    • Finale good ending scripting fixed

    • Various floating art props fixed

    • Incorrect attenuated audio fixed

    • Script locking player in apartment fixed

    • Script locking player in clean apartment fixed

    • Wife car defense spawning zombies fixed

    • Parking deck cinematic event not playing fixed

    • Dying loads player into wrong level fixed

    • Turret accidentally killing player fixed

  • Tutorial

    • Script breaking entering garage fixed

  • General Bug Fixes

    • Incorrectly scaled items in backpack fixed

    • Incorrect magazine ammo counts fixed

    • Many many more fixed