Take a look at a development update from our Level Design, Game Design and Art teams!
Hello Patreons!
To begin, we'd like to thank you for your continued support and patience, and apologise for the lack of posts in recent months. Since 14.2 was a community-focused update, we felt a greater responsibility to communicate with the broader public on shorter notice, which left us without enough supporter-exclusive information to justify a larger post.
With the Halloween event concluded, we're resuming work on the previously announced major features. As we're still in the early development stages of 15.0, no features have been completed yet, and most are not in a presentable state. Regardless, we wanted to give you an overall update on what we are currently working on.
Level Design
Ramp Room
HCZ Ramped Tunnel or ‘Ramp Room’ was designed by our Level Designer Plookiedookie, alongside the Incinerator Corner Room or ‘Wayside’. It was made to add more diversity to the intersections of Heavy Containment Zone, and to test our trial environmental artists before they start their work on Surface Zone (needless to say that they both passed).
This room was designed by our Environmental Artist Josh. It is the first room he has designed for the game! Soup, our Level Design Supervisor, has since taken care of the in-game implementation and lighting.
The middle of the room is designed in the style of a normal HCZ hallway, with a ramp leading up to a second (permanently locked) bulkhead to create the impression of there being more to HCZ outside of the playable space. There are also two side areas. The one to the right contains some electronics, while the left side is more of a storage area, containing a storage room and a small walkway.
(Top-down view of the room’s layout)Green: Large Node DoorOrange: Regular Small Node DoorLight Blue: Chain-link FenceRed: Permanently Locked Door
Dark Blue: Medical Cabinet Spawn
Purple: Pedestal SpawnYellow: Railing
This room was designed around the idea of experimenting with two concepts. The first concept was how having interesting verticality in the pathway through an intersection affected the playstyle of a room, with the top of the room offering a high ground advantage, making it a potentially powerful spot to shoot from since three paths need to be watched.
The second concept is the implementation of a door that is permanently locked. This door can only be opened through destructive means, which leads to the possibility of a shortcut through the room opening up as the match progresses. It also offers a path for SCP-106 to quickly catch up with a human, and SCP-096 can choose to break the door to quickly gain ground on a human. On top of this, the shortcut features a wire fence next to the door that allows for bullets to be fired through.
This room has only a couple of item spawnpoints. There is a spot inside the storage room where either an SCP item or an Experimental Weapon can spawn, and a medical locker by the right-hand entrance under the stairs. Many miscellaneous shelves can also be looted in this room.
Art
Concept Art
Surface Zone is a huge project. In order to complete it on time, we need a team of artists working on it together; however, if not closely managed, this can lead to multiple different themes for Surface Zone and result in the different areas feeling too separate and disconnected instead of a complete zone.
To ensure everyone had the same vision in mind for Surface, our talented concept artist Grongo was tasked with creating six different pieces of concept art for Surface Zone, each showcasing a different part of the zone.
(Entry Area)
“The aesthetic I was trying to go for with these pieces was a sense of complete function over form. The buildings are brutalist and uninviting; to the foundation, they are there to simply act as structures and nothing more.”
(Utility Building)
“I tried a lot of different types of architecture, some with many different rectangles and cubes intersecting, but it all felt too overdesigned for the foundation’s purposes. These facades aren't here to lure you into a false sense of comfort or safety.”
(Warehouse)
“I was very inspired by the 2018 game Control for the brutalist structure of the exterior, and as for the interior shots, I looked at a lot of subway stations, loading docks, and parking garages for inspiration. Later down the line, I played the 2023 Dead Space remake, and it really gave me a lot of ideas for the signage and props to add to later pieces!”
(Main Road Gate A)
“I started with screenshots from the Greybox pass of Surface Zone, and started painting over them with simple values just to get an idea of the form. After that was done, I moved on to painting all the walls with simple lighting in mind. Finally, I added my signs, props, and small light sources to bring the piece all together. Of course, I came back to it a million times after it was finished to make more changes”.
(Staff Entrance)
“This was a big learning experience for me. I can't wait to see what our talented environment artists do with my concepts. I'm sure it will be beyond amazing.” - Grongo
(Main Road)