Dead Containment News

Hi all. As you may have noticed things have been quiet around here. There hasn't been a game update in some time or even an official post here. I mainly post small updates either on Twitter or the Dead Containment discussions page here on Steam. But I thought it's best to write something here where all the players can see. So...what's going on with Dead Containment?


Nope! Not surprised a lot of people thought that given how little I've posted here but Dead Containment is still very much alive. Admittedly work has been very slow on the game until recently. This is due to Dead Containment being a solo made game, where the only time I have to work on this is either outside of my full time job (as a game developer for a studio) or when life gives me some quiet time. It's hard to find a balance between it all but I'm planning to spend a bit more time on Dead Containment from now on and at the very least get all promised features and levels out there in a state that I'm happy with.

With that, he's what's to look forward to this year.


The next big update is update 0.5.0. This update will bring a new level (Level 5) to the game, new weapons and the next part of the minigames. I don't have a date for this yet but work has already started and slowly getting there. I don't have much to share on the new level or weapons yet other than the next level will introduce a new type of gameplay not seen before in Dead Containment.




The next update to minigames will include a target based challenge. Moving targets will follow patterns in the shooting range. Hitting enemy targets earns you points while hitting civilian targets will take away points. Your scores will then be shown on an online leader board just like how level scores are now.


As I write this the Steam Winter sale will be going live. To celebrate Dead Containment turning 2 years old I have added Dead Containment to the sale at the biggest discount the game has seen. If you have a friend who want's to play an old school on-rails shooter or just to blast zombies with in co-op then why not grab them a copy.


That's all for now. As I progress on Dead Containment I hope to show off some of things being worked on soon.

See you in the next update!


You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.


No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.

Additions
- Added armoury background music.

Fixes
- (Gameplay) Fixed crosshair not auto cantering on level loading.
- (UI) Fixed pause menu in the firing range armoury soft locking the game.

You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.


No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.

This update brings some new features to Dead Containment while also laying the ground work for future updates. From new modes and weapons, to improvements and fixes, this update has a lot to unpack.


Armoury is a new screen players will see before starting each level. On this screen players can select 2 power weapons to bring into each level. In co-op mode this also acts as a ready-up screen too, where both players must select ready before the game will start.


Minigame support has been added to Dead Containment along with the first minigame (See below). This added framework will allow minigames to be added to Dead Containment alongside the main level. A lot of minigame levels have already been planned and will be added to the game overtime alongside the main levels.


The firing range is the perfect place to try out all the weapons in the game in a safe environment. Included in the firing range are 3 modes; target shooting, roaming undead and empty range. Paper targets are great for learning a weapons recoil and spread before moving onto the roaming undead mode, where the range is filled with moving yet non-lethal enemies.




This update also includes the first new weapons for Dead Containment; the SMG 45 and the Boomstick.

The SMG 45 is a compact hard hitter with a tight spread, perfect for taking out enemies up close and popping heads over distance.

The Boomstick is a groovy double barrel sawed off, packing a mean punch only to be let down that you can only fire it twice before needing to reload.




Due to the engine upgrade, all levels had to have their lighting rebuilt. This was the perfect opportunity to go over each level and improve the art and lighting in one pass along with fixing some models with missing LOD's or visual glitches.


An important part about the work in this update is the framework it adds for future additions. Things such as new weapons or minigames were never supported on release. Now with this update new weapons and modes can be created and added quicker without additional backend work, hopefully leading to more frequent content updates.


You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.


No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.

Additions
- Added armoury.
- Added firing range minigame.
- Added minigame support.
- Added new weapon - Boomstick.
- Added new weapon - SMG 45.
- Added path names to path select screen.
- Added ready-up screen between levels.

Improvements
- Improved online play networking.
- Improved weapon audio - Shotgun.
- Improved world lighting.
- Improved world detailing.
- Improved world lighting.
- Improved world particles.

Changes
- Changed game engine to UE 4.27.

Reworked weapon - Shotgun - Now named SEMI 12.

Reworked weapon - SMG - Now named MP21.
- Increased fire rate from 850 rpm to 950 rpm.
- Increased max spread from 2.2 to 2.4.
- Lowered damage from 70 to 65.

Fixes
- (Audio) Client would have no level music.
- (Audio) Whoosh sound looping during final scores screen.
- (Art) Player 2 model missing in lobby screen.
- (Gameplay) Weapons not spawning for clients with a high ping.
- (UI) Crosshair cursor vanishes when clicking in lobby menu.
- (UI) Cutscene overlay not showing for clients with high ping on start of level.
- (UI) Missing player weapon icons from HUD.

Happy holidays everyone!

Around 2 months ago Dead Containment launched into Steam Early Access as my first ever game released on Steam. It's been great seeing the positive responses from everyone and seeing people enjoy the game. Thank you to everyone who has supported the game and I hope you enjoy what's coming next for Dead Containment. Speaking of...


The next big update for Dead Containment will be the 0.4.5 update, also titled The Armoury Update. This update will bring the armoury feature to the game along with new weapons to fill it.

The armoury will work as a screen you will see every time you load into a level. From the armoury you can swap out your power weapons with others you've unlocked. Weapons can be unlocked by completing levels and by achievements at a later date.

There's not much to show in the way of new guns or gameplay just yet but for now here is an early in-progress picture of the armoury UI.



I'm aiming for a March release with this update, but as always with game development this date isn't set in stone and can change.


You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.


No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.

• Added direct input mouse option.
  
  
• Changed multiplayer to use Steam SDK when connected to Steam
  
• Changed multiplayer to use Advanced Sessions when not connected to Steam
  
  
• Fixed friends list invites not working.
  
• Fixed game details not updating in the lobby.
  
• Fixed leaderboards in the demo showing the full games leaderboards
  
• Fixed multiplayer not loading the next level.
  

You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.


No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.