"Lockdown" Survival Horror game.

Flan_Da_Man

Somnium Entertainment is an indie development company established in Ireland in December 2012 by Alan Flannery and Kristian O Connell.

We are working on our first project which is called "Lockdown". Here is a preview of the Game.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzBfpzTO9_M

Lockdown is a first person shooter survival horror game, set just after the World War II period.

Uncover the story by solving the clues and puzzles scattered throughout the bunker and beyond.

Strengthen your arsenal as you move room by room finding new and exciting weaponry.
Buy exclusive weapons, maps and armoury packs from our in-game store.
Set new high scores to be beaten. "Lockdown" is a game of intelligence and quick decision making.

"Do you think you have what it takes to survive?"

Flan_Da_Man

Here is a look at some in-game snap shots of some of the levels we have been working on. Hope you like.

TPD

Seeing as this is game development, not 'advertise your game' (:pac:) - what technologies are you using on a day to day basis? Did you start off with any existing frameworks or write everything from scratch?

Flan_Da_Man

Apologies if it seemed like we were advertising. Our game is certainly still under development and still has a way to go until its completion.

The software we are using to design and build our game is unity 4, Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max and on occasion blender.

Our game has certainly been built from scratch. We have been working tirelessly on it to get it to where it is at the moment. We have a small team but a dedicated one at that but have been putting in long hours to continue its progress.

Kyotokid

Didn't seem like and ad to me

Genuine question (because I'm a newb here): are people not supposed to post what they're working on??

Cheers for posting your game.

TPD

I was joking about it being an ad. Very atmospheric looking screenshots!

Cr4pSnip3r

Makes me think of Fallout (based on the trailer), although I don't think of it as a rip off, which is great. Looks good.

Flan_Da_Man

Again if it came across as advertising. It was not our intention. Our game is still in full development and we are just looking for general feedback from the public on our progress.

If ye would like to see more snap from our development let us know and we can post more.

Thanks for everyones good comments so far.

Torakx

UDK, 3dsMax and mudbox?
Good work by the way.

Genghiz Cohen

Please don't fall into the Dead Space 2 'corridor shooter with jumps' pit.
There are enough Gore(As distinct from Horror) games out there.

If you can get a creepy, tense feel to your game rather than "When that guy jumps out of that shadow imma blast n stop his ass" feel you will be doing quite well.

witnessmenow

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Please don't fall into the Dead Space 2 'corridor shooter with jumps' pit.
There are enough Gore(As distinct from Horror) games out there.

If you can get a creepy, tense feel to your game rather than "When that guy jumps out of that shadow imma blast n stop his ass" feel you will be doing quite well.

There is an interesting tech demo where you are controlling a first person character going down a stairs, and its really creepy. Except nothing happens!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/21/the-neverending-stairway-scp-087/

Flan_Da_Man

The main software we are using to design the game is Unity 4, Maya, 3ds Max and a few others.

Thanks again for all your good comments and also your helpful tips. We are working on making this game a creepy and tense game to move around in. So its not just going to be about the survival aspect.

Some of the mechanics involved in doing this is difficult but if we can pull it off. You can expect a tense and thrilling experience once you play our game.

What i like about our design is, Its not a typical survival game where zombie walk around and you continuously sit there picking them off with ease.

We are working on a sophisticated A.I. system that will make these zombies very intelligent and they will do things you wouldn't normally expect which is something i'm excited to get feedback when the game is released.

Genghiz Cohen

Flan_Da_Man wrote: »

We are working on a sophisticated A.I. system that will make these zombies very intelligent and they will do things you wouldn't normally expect which is something i'm excited to get feedback when the game is released.

Please tell me they wait in ambush positions and set traps for you, they try to lure you to dead ends with bread crumb trails of hope.

Say these things to me.

Flan_Da_Man

Once again i must thank all you guys for your great feedback on the games development so far. I will be posting some fresh updates from one of our new maps over the coming days so keep an eye out for them.

With regards to your questions. It is a single player game currently but we are working on integrating multiplayer a few weeks after release. I don't want to give away much in terms of game details but i assure you we have spent a long time perfecting the zombies A.I system and animations to give this type of game a new perspective on how zombies will react and move around the map.

We have made these zombies intelligent. So if your thinking to yourself " ill just sit here and pick off each zombie that walks around the corner that is not what will be the case. We are trying to add a gothic horror feel to this. There wont be a constant flow of zombies. Some will be hiding. Some will be aggressive and hunt you.

Flan_Da_Man

Here is a look at some of our concept designs from our upcoming debut title "Lockdown". Hope you like it guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGp6-cU9bn4

Subscribe to our new youtube channel for more regular updates. http://www.youtube.com/user/SomniumEnt

Torakx

The Artwork is very good.
Nice job.

Flan_Da_Man

Thanks very much for your feedback. Here are some work in progress shots from our new map we are currently working on. There is still a lot if detailing to be done but its coming along really well. Let us know your thoughts.

Subscribe to our new youtube for regular video updates. We will be releasing game the first game footage very soon.

Genghiz Cohen

Looking great so far.

Kilgore__Trout

Really impressive. Looking forward to seeing more!

Flan_Da_Man

Hello everyone,

We would like to apologise for the lack of updates for ye. We have just been working extremely hard on the project, but I am happy to say we are making a lot of progress. Here are a few fresh in-game shots from our bunker map. Its still a work in progress and has a lot of atmosphere setting to be done but its coming along great.

Let us know your thoughts.








Again we would like to thank everyone for there positive feedback. Really does motivate us to continue building this game in the best way possible so everyone is happy with it.

We would like to point out we are running a crowdfunding campaign to help us with achieving our goal in completing this project and expanding our company for future development. Your help would be massive to the success of this game. Just a small donation would make a huge difference in making our dream possible.

You can check out our campaign here: http://igg.me/p/470016/x/4008058

witnessmenow

Its probably too late now, but your rewards on your indie go go campaign are not good enough, I mean even $50 doesn't even get you the game!? That is absolute madness in my opinion.

How much do you expect to charge for the game on release? Im guessing its not $50, its probably closer to $20. Yet you are expecting people to donate $20 or $50 AND then have to buy the game afterwards? You are asking people to pay twice for your game.

$100 to get the game is ludicrous, I dont want to be blunt, but lets call a spade a spade. The best games in the world are not $100 at launch, yet you are looking for people to pretty much pre-order an unfinished indie game for that price? Its just not going to happen.

When supporting games in kickstarter type things, most people want the product, not t-shirts. Like your game is interesting looking so I went to link to maybe throw a few euro at it and first thing I looked at was the rewards....

Personally I thought the reward should be more structured like:

$10 - Name in Credits
$20 - Copy of game
$30 - Access to Beta
$50 - Get a T-Shirt
$100 - Name an item in game
$500 - Pints with the developers (or something!)

Where all bigger rewards contain rewards up to that.

Kilgore__Trout

Hi,

I don't know anything about your finance requirements, but I think witnessmenow makes a very good point.

Planetary Annihilation on Steam were charging something like 80 to get on the beta, and slightly less for the finished game. That generated an enormous amount of bad feeling within their community. These price related threads have utterly dominated the discussion on Steam.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/233250/discussions/0/864970667912434855/

http://steamcommunity.com/app/233250/discussions/0/864970587226651407/

I've seen quite a few people complaining about 55 eur for Rome: Total War 2.

Genghiz Cohen

You will receive a full copy of the game once its released including all the features that are available on the store for free.

Does this mean there will be paid items in a paid game?

Also, +1 to the last 2 posts.
Follow Minecraft/ArmA 3. Pay small for early access and ramp the price up to full cost as you near release.

Flan_Da_Man

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for your points. We have taken them on board and agree with what you are saying. I myself will admit that crowdfunding is something I have yet to get a grasp on and your thoughts are very helpful and I thank you for them.

The game itself will probably go on release for around 7.99 to 9.99 mark. Again I apologise for the lack of clarity with our crowdfunding campaign. It is obviously something we need to research more for future. We have clearly stepped in something we know too little about.

I hope you like what your seeing of the game so far and there will be a game footage video released very soon.

Beta testing for the game will commence very soon and if you would like to be apart of the team. Please email info@somniumentertainment.net for a chance to be involved. Your insights are very important to the success of the game.

Flan_Da_Man

Here is a new map we are currently working on at the moment. Still has work to be done on it but its progressing very nicely so far.



Please continue to post your views and thoughts here. Everyones help is appreciated.

Sythen

I didn't know you guys were based in Ireland. Came across this project on ModDB.
Looking good,

Sythen

First and foremost, your models and textures are beautiful, both compliment each other very well. In your previous post, your outdoor environment is looking very well, models are evenly spaces and area seems well thought out, could do with more contrast however.

The underground areas are looking beautiful, each area of each individual room has something new to look at, and very little repetition.
Aside from things like lights on concrete ceilings with no wires, everything else is very sound.

Critique:
From an Environment Art perspective, your environments look quite sound. First thing I would say is that no lights are ever fully white, first rule of thumb with lighting. Look up a color graph for lighting.



Secondly, though your rooms are packed with beautiful objects, the overall rooms are lacking in architectural design. I recommend taking this workflow into mind when planning a building. 1. Find what sort of building, environment art you are trying to achieve, research, gain blueprints and reference images. 2. Always try to vary the design as much as possible, depending on which room it is and it's location relative to the ground floor, pillars, or indented areas can offer a more stabilizing look and break up the area. 3. Try to avoid using standard block geometry, adding meshes for your walls, floors and ceilings allow for much more opportunity in fleshing out your environment from an architecture perspective.



My last point is that your morgue area, although beautiful should not be completely black shadows, considering it's a horror game, and I see no styling to the game (you're going for a realistic design), place some small lights with a value of 0.01 to brighten the shadows to a visible level but maintain their darkness. Limiting the player's field of view by lighting with such high contrast takes away from the environment and leaves the player less likely to search or explore your designs.

Final Thoughts
Overall, the work you've shown is beautiful, could do with some more work, and a little more thought into the process of room creation (architecturally speaking). What I've seen from the trailer seems very interesting, and I'm very eager to play it. Character animation is beautiful too.

Good luck with development, you guys are doing great
~peace.

Flan_Da_Man

Hello Everybody,

We would like to apologise for the lack of updates on lockdown over the past few months. We ran into some funding issue unfortunately which lead to a big set back in our time schedule for this game. The good news is we are back in development and will be posting regular updates from now on.

Thanks for your support on this and we look forward to your feedback on the fresh updates we will be putting out.

Flan_Da_Man

• Lockdown Defence is a "Tower defence zombie survival first person shooter game" that has its own unique build and twist.

• Lockdown Defence is being developed using state of the art game development software such as Unity 4, Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max.

Plot:

• It is the year 1946. You are an Ally soldier working in a highly secured Government bunker previously used by the Nazis. The Scientists there are studying a highly classified, hazardous chemical, known to you as "Element Zero Six". The chemical was discovered after the defeat of
the Nazis.

• The scientists there are carrying out controlled tests on the chemical when a biological accident occurs. The chemical has evaporated into an airborne substance and begins to spread a deadly infection throughout the lab. The "Lockdown" procedure is initiated. Are you the only survivor?

• How has the infection spread so fast? How have you not been infected? Uncover the mystery by protecting the remaining scientists as they try to find a cure throughout the bunker.

Features:

• Strengthen your arsenal as you move room to room finding new and exciting weaponry and more.

• Buy exclusive weapons, new maps and game enhancing armoury packs from our in-game store.

• Beat your friends high scores, Set your own worldwide score and share your achievements across the leading social networks, such as Facebook.

• Lockdown Defense is a game of intelligence and quick decision making.

Gameplay:

• The aim of the game is simply to survive but also has a story for you to uncover along your
way.
• The player has to overcome obstacles and challenges using intelligent tactics in order to uncover the story of the game.

• The player must use his team wisely to protect the scientists as they work to find a cure.

• The game runs along a system where the longer you survive, the more difficult the game becomes.

• There will be points as you defend zones where you will encounter a boss which will make it increasingly difficult to defend zones and protect the scientists.

• You must defend the scientists from attack as they move from objective to objective.

• A great reward system to reward every action you make, allowing you to purchase weapons, and receive more points to use for upgrading your weapons and character etc.

• You will have the ability to use RTS mode which will allow you a top-over view of the map to manoeuvre your squads strategically.

Upgrades Explained:

• As you perform certain actions, complete objectives and reach benchmarks, you will be rewarded points that you can spend in game to upgrade weapons, squad mates and more.

• Earning points is key to surviving to higher rounds, more difficult rounds require better weapons and improved squad mates.

• Another way to receivepoints is to purchase them through the in-game store, for use whenever you need them.

• Points you earn carry over every time you play.

• These points are NOT used to purchase exclusive weapons, maps or any downloadable content.

•They are ONLY used for upgrades of in-game items and characters. Purchased DLC weaponry can be upgraded also.

Additional Planned Features:

• Another system we are looking to integrate into the game is the Barrier Protection System.

• This system enables you as the player to build barriers to protect you and your squad from zombies. It costs points to build and upgrade these barriers.

• The system consists of 3 upgrade levels:

Level 1 - Short life-span, contains crates and rubbish.

Level 2 - longer life-span, contains stronger materials.

Level 3 - Long life and contains railings, crates, rubbish.

• Approaching an area that can be protected will open a sub-menu. This will allow you to upgrade the area to a specific protection level you deem necessary.

Flan_Da_Man

Here is a look at the interactive menu we are currently working on.