Hey everyone!
For those of you who don't know, my name's Victor Burgos (who knew). I have a short little intro already on the General Forums named Beehive->Kick that's pinned if you want more info.
TL;DR: Programmer. Former Marine. Game Dev Student Grad.
A lot of you have been patiently waiting for what the heck this "Outbreak" thing was and I am happy to announce...
Contagion VR: Outbreak
Bubble->Burst
Now I know this is definitely not what most of you hoped for. I know you all wanted this to be an update for Contagion itself. Sorry to burst that bubble but please do read on and don't be too ːsteamsaltyː.
Outbreak->Demo
There is a demo and it's actually complete ːsteamhappyː. We're waiting on a few things before releasing it, sadly it's Friday night and a holiday weekend so we'll be publishing...
ːsteamsadːːsteamsadːːsteamsadːːsteamsadːːsteamsadːːsteamsadːːsteamsadː
Outbreak->About
Contagion VR: Outbreak is a first-person shooter built from the ground up exclusively for VR. Fully immerse yourself in a world initially familiar to you, and witness it's transformation into something much darker as it rapidly changes right before your eyes.
Assume the role of one of our many characters and experience their stories first hand that would shape them in the mold of who they would eventually become. The end of the world as we know it is filled with horrors the likes of which were never fathomed, but in all the darkness lies a beacon of light, tales of heroism and sacrifices made so others could carry on. Explore highly detailed environments, search for scarce resources and see if you've got what it takes to survive a zombie apocalypse!
We've painstakingly developed every element from the ground up for HTC Vive and Oculus, Contagion VR: Outbreak drops you in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Fight alone in our single player story driven mode and experience each characters past, or team up and fight alongside your friends in one of our co-op based modes! Have a competitive drive? Do battle against other players in one of our PVP modes and see if you've got what it takes to be crowned king of the VR wasteland!
- VR driven game-play mechanics: Perform physical actions true to life that immerse players deep inside the world of Contagion.
- Full single player campaign: Each character has their own history, learn the events each experienced that shaped their personalities and defines who they are today.
- A massive arsenal of weapons: Firearms, melee weapons, explosives, and much much more!
- Multiple co-op modes: Fight alongside your friends in one of our multiplayer focused modes, or climb the leaderboards in any of our shooting range challenges!
- Challenge other survivors: Have a competitive itch? Hop into one of our PVP multiplayer modes and see if you're good enough to be king of the VR wasteland!
- Customize your personal space: Play the game to unlock loot drops and customize your home base to your liking before heading out to battle the infected.
FridayThe13thImage->Delete
Turns out that Valve updated the way they do images, I even thought that someone on our team had deleted it, but nope, that's not the case.
ProjectAgeless->StatusCheck
A highly ambitious project that is currently no longer in development.
Contagion(this)->StatusCheck
What you've all been waiting for! ːsteamhappyː What the heck is going on with this game?
Sadly, not much. The team did not have the resources to continue development using the Source SDK. Basically, they did not have a programmer with enough chops to accomplish what they had originally set out to do.
Which is the main reason they chose to move onto another project that they could accomplish without an actual programmer: Contagion VR: Outbreak using Unreal Engine 4's Blueprints Visual Scripting system.
But the core team, even in their silence, have kept Contagion and the community in their hearts, knowing that it was just a matter of time for when they could come back and, if not "finish what they started", at the very least clean up a few things.
Contagion(this)->VictorModeEnabled
So right off the bat folks... I am NOT a Source SDK programmer and have never touched this archaic thing in my life. I have been programming in UE4 for over 3 years now (BP/UE4++), so that's definitely my forte.
I have probably just as much time as a C++ programmer and I also know some C# (worked in Unity some).
What does this mean? My main focus is and will be Contagion VR: Outbreak but I will be taking out some time to get myself acquainted with Source SDK and the Contagion Source Code (yes I have access to it).
But real-talk folks... this thing has been through at least three other programmersːsteamfacepalmː, it's over four years old, any updates on my part will be the easy kindːsteammockingː. Bug-fixing being the priority, anything else would be very slow in the making (if at all).
VictorBurgos->Promise
With all that said, I hereby state the following:
- I will look at the Contagion Source code
- I will learn how to modify the code without breaking things
- I will make bug-fixing my priority
And that's it. There's no timeline, no other promises. I am not doing this because I was told to do it. I am doing this on my own accord. It's the same for this announcement.
VictorBurgos->RealTalk
I am a straight-up, honest and down to earth guy. I don't hold my punches. My filter is practically non-existent. That doesn't mean I can't be tactful though. Just like everyone else, I am a real person behind this keyboard. Unlike most people, I do not hide behind an online persona.
If anyone has any specific questions or concerns about this announcement, please do not hesitate to comment below.
My website is: http://www.VictorBurgosGames.com (make sure to sign up for my newsletter ːsteammockingː)
I can also be reached on Twitter: https://twitter.com/victorburgosG3
Post-Original Announcement
GameDevelopment->Hard
But yeah, let's be real here. Game Development takes time, effort and money. The game's been out for over 4 years now, some games don't even get any support after launching. So be grateful for the support you had (even if you think it wasn't enough)
Also, unless you all want to donate lots of $$$ to my bank account in an attempt to sway me into putting more time into Contagion Source SDK, I do have to eat. So gotta make sure my primary tasks are completed first and foremost. Like I said, I'll do what I can in my spare time learning it. It won't be a quick and easy process sadly. I wish it were. I wish I could just push one button and give you all what you wanted.
ContagionVROutbreak->Pricing
While I definitely do not have the authority on pricing. I can guarantee you that it will NOT be free. The game has been in development for over a year now and has a lot of money sunk into it. Money that needs to be reimbursed in some way.
Contagion != Contagion VR: Outbreak. They are two separate game that just share the same universe. The demo WILL be free however. And I did put a special surprise in there for Non-VR users. (But don't tell anyone on my team ːsteammockingː)
As far as a discount, I could see that potentially being a possibility. Not sure how much of a discount, I suppose that would depend on the price.
ContagionOutbreak->NonVR
So, the TL;DR version: Once I have all the systems in place for VR, I will be looking into Non-VR and we'll be dropping the VR from the name(I don't see why we would keep it)
In between Source SDK learning/bug fixing and main VR work, I do plan on continuing adding things for Non-VR players. However, what those things may entail in the final product remains to be seen. If there's going to be anything "official" announced for Non-VR players it will be at a later date after making sure we get any and all kinks out of the way. So, I suppose you could consider this a precursor to a leak, if anything, on my part.
Things like PvP is iffy. Who has the actual advantage here? If it were PC vs Console in an FPS we would say PC all the way. But now, it's VR vs Non-VR. A VR gamer can shoot around corner and over object with ease and not put their whole body collision at play while the Non-VR player has no choice really. Things like that are what I am thinking about. Coop Contagion, I don't think anyone would care if their buddy was in VR or Non-VR. If anything that would be the focus, that and the Single Player campaign.
We are looking into having Non-VR support alongside VR players. Once I've fleshed out the main gameplay systems, I'll have to double back and do a pass on the FPS Character and basically see what I can do and what I can't do.
Obviously it would be awesome to have a completely 100% 1:1 functionality, even if the inputs/interactivity is different. But that's a lot of time to digest and figure out the best way to do that.
The game was created for VR first and foremost, the rest of the team didn't even think about having Non-VR support until I mentioned that it was possible.
They are of course excited about that and I am sure you all would be also. But, who knows how many additional systems I would have to create to allow full Non-VR support.
Remember everything in the game is as if you were there in "real life" so the whole inventory system is basically on your body or backpack. So that's one system I'd have to create for 2D. And I am sure there are other things I haven't thought about.
Implementation-wise, I don't think it's going to be hard at all. I am just going to be creating an FPS pawn (which technically already exists) alongside our VR pawn. Design-wise, I think that's going to be our major issue. Ensuring a 1:1 experience for both types of players.
Deej->Speaks
I thought I would chime in with my 2 cents real quick. When I joined the team in an official capacity I saw that development on Contagion was at a standstill. I got an education about past missteps by asking questions and got plenty of answers. There were just a few developers active and no direction from the top, I believed everyone who was left when they expressed to me a desire to turn things around, and so we set out to try and do just that.
There was no active programmer and let's be honest here, without a dedicated programmer "real" progress is not possible. We did what we could with a skeleton crew and we managed to produce a couple of campaign maps (Camp Whitner and Montclair) and release a beta of Flatline game mode. We heard loud and clear community complaints and are still listening to this day.
We did have expectations that we were going to start growing the community again, that was always the plan. We had acquired a new programmer who seemed capable and we all agreed we needed to fix up the game while releasing additional free content updates. However gradually it became apparent that we were understaffed in over our heads and our programmer was starting to fade quickly and having just released Flatline we were once again in search of a programmer.
Stability issues aside with Contagion (and I know there are plenty), the top priority for me was wanting to fix the matchmaking system which I thought was awful. Watching people play Contagion the biggest issue I observed was people trying to simply play the game with their friends, it was a nightmare. If we can actually fix that is anyone's guess. It's just one of many things I'd like to fix in Contagion but as Victor said, Source engine is a nightmare and we're not making any promises, but we'll see what we can do.
Fast forward more than a year we decided if Contagion was ever going to stand a chance of getting fixed, we needed another project to put out so we could actually afford to hire someone that would be able to do just that. We started working on Contagion VR Outbreak without any programmer support and in a short time had a solid playable prototype. All signs were looking positive and I requested permission to interview and hire a full time programmer. I wanted a lead programmer who was capable, hungry, and had as much passion for his work as I did. Several interviews later, I believed I had found him.
As the new project lead developer on Contagion VR Outbreak, I had not had the chance to interview anyone for this position in the past and so having made my decision that Victor was the candidate I had been looking for, when we were able to secure him full time I was more than excited. Victor has expressed a desire to want to try and fix some of what's broken in Contagion and plans to try and do just that. Will we be able to fix everything that everyone wants and in a timely fashion? No promises but we hear you, and want the same thing so let's just see what we can manage and when we know, we promise to let you know.
Looking forward, we are going to be looking for a full time community manager for Outbreak. It's a full time job that requires managing of Steam forums, social media platforms, and is a position we should have had for Contagion a long time ago. We want to avoid making the same mistakes we did with Contagion in Outbreak. So with that said, we will be hiring someone to fill that position and pledge do a better job on that front moving forward. We are also discussing plans to host weekly Twitch streams to share updates with the community and have Q&A sessions to gather feedback on things they would like to see in Outbreak.
We know undoubtedly that some will be disappointed with this announcement. I am going to however say that it is not outside the realm of possibility that Outbreak will be a VR only game. I have expressed the desire to the team to at some point after getting Outbreak released and out of Early Access, that we could and should consider setting up support for non-VR users. This is something that we are all in agreement about and because we are using Unreal Engine to develop Outbreak, definitely not outside our capability.
That's all I have to say, I hope you'll give us a chance. Those of you who have stuck around all this time and contributed Workshop content we thank you.