Articles - Quarantine 2

Hello all; the fall semester has finally come to an end which means I was able to sit down and spend some time working on Quarantine 2! This version see’s several game-stopping bug fixes. Most were focused on mis-aligned pixel art, as well as several AI fixes. I’ve also re-designed the scoring and experience system!

Players earn experience through completing tasks, unlocking and looting areas, as well as killing zombies and reviving other players. The amount of lives the player has as well as deaths are tied into experience gain, and players earn a modifier bonus based upon the round difficulty. Leveling up your character allows you to unlock new perks and other customization tools.

Player Scores are calculated based upon round completion and time survived. Completing an A to B level within the speed-run time will provide a large bonus. While surviving benchmark Defend The Throne levels will provide their own large bonus.

Players earn an additional modifier bonus for playing on harder difficulties, as well as an additional bonus for zero deaths.

- ADDED

- Additional zombie spawns around sewer hotspots

- Round will now end if all players(including AI) are down

- Saferoom door must be shut with all players inside for round to end(AI not included)

- Suicide HUD button when player is down

- CHANGED

- Official Servers will now automatically reboot after extended period of time

- Fix: Runtime errors with AI

- Fix: Bots not properly reviving each other/players

- Fix: Human AI not spawning properly at beginning of rounds

- Fix: Misaligned overlays

- Scoring/Player Experience modified

This update brings a lot of new visual changes. I finally broke down and purchased a pixel art asset package to help with some of the art load, as I'm mostly a programmer and I've found quite a lot of my time being spent towards creating art instead.

There will be occasional clashes between the two art styles, but over time I'll slowly edit and merge the new art to fit a little better. Zombie icons have also seen an update, and now feature clothes, hair, and changing genders.

Campaign maps, also known as A to B game modes, now feature a radio dialog that outputs to all players. This adds a bit of immersion and lore to the games atmosphere. Loot will now randomly spawn throughout the maps instead of in static locations, and the higher the difficulty the less loot will spawn!

Speaking of campaign maps, a new one has been added entitled, "Deconstruction".

A lot of changes have went under the hood of previous systems, including weapon targeting when selecting which enemy to fire upon, and shuffling targets now shuffles between the two closest targets. Zombie AI has seen yet another vast improvement; zeds are smarter about picking paths towards players, and less likely to get stuck. However, occasionally the zombies will still get stuck, but they are zombies!

Special AI will be more challenging to defeat as Spitter's are more intelligent about hitting players with acid, and the Boomers charge is almost impossible to dodge. Players are now temporarily frozen when hit by Boomer bile! Doomer's have an increased range when attacking, and will knock players back a considerable distance. Large groups of players will cause the Doomer to flee and regroup.

Other than that, the game has seen over all balancing and various background bug fixes/runtime errors.

Next on the list, I'd really like to improve the EXE handler. Hopefully with the game coming to a more consistantly stable version I can start eyeing a steam release. But gameplay-wise, the plan is to start working on a "final" boss players can fight against.

You can download and play Quarantine 2, completely free; Here!

- ADDED
- Campaign Dialog!
- A to B maps now feature Radio dialog that outputs to players, adding to the immersion and lore of the universe.
- Vast array of new art assets!
- On "A to B" maps; interactive objects/loot now randomly spawn throughout the map
- The higher the difficulty - the less likely loot will spawn
- New A to B map, "Deconstruction"
- CHANGED
- Zombie icons have been updated(now have clothes, change gender, change hair)
- Implemented color matrix system- hair colors are generated dynamically
- Weapon targeting system improved/Including Shuffle targets
- Damage ping improved
- Zombie AI improved
- Zombies are smarter about picking paths towards players/less likely to get stuck(still occasionally happens, they're zombies!)
- Special AI slightly improved
Spitters are more intelligent about hitting players with acid
Boomers charge effect improved(almost impossible to dodge!)
- Charge distance is now based upon distance of player and boomer
- Players are now temp frozen when hit by boomer explosion
Increased attack range for Doomers
- Doomers will now flee if facing against multiple players!
- Doomers attack will now knock back players a considerable distance
- Overall game balancing!
- Weapon stats have been lowered
- Chance for ammo drops more likely
- Zombie health increased
- Increased range and time for fire crackers
- FIXED
- Overlay display not adjusting properly
- Background obj's icon disappearing
- REMOVED
- Zombie death animations due to hair/clothing additions

Hello everyone,

I'm quite new here, but for the last couple months I've been developing a 2D zombie game entitled Quarantine 2. Initially, I released a similar project called Quarantine way back in 2010, but I've decided to remake the project. I would really like to try to get the word out, as I'm not really great with the advertising aspect of game development. There is a decent help file set up in the game to explain how everything works, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

You and several other players must fight your way through hordes of undead completing objectives along the way. There are currently two playable game modes; A to B, and Defend The Throne.

A to B is similar to Left 4 Dead/Back 4 Blood, where players will start out in a safehouse and must travel to the next to complete the mission. There will be several objectives players must complete in order to progress further! Defend the Throne is the classic game mode featured in the original Quarantine. Players must survive as long as possible while rounds progress. Fans of Call of Duty Zombies will enjoy this game mode.

Several zombies throughout the game have additional powers. Some will charge and explode damaging all nearby players, while others will keep their distance while spitting acid. Customize your own game controls to fit your gamestyle. Mix and match weapon attachments to upgrade your weapon loadout! Includes customizable characters! Level up your character to progress and unlock new character sprites.

I have a couple testing servers running unless any major game stopping bugs pop up, it is completely free to play! I would really appreciate it if anyone would like to give it a try.

And here's a link to the games main hub; Byond.com

Thanks!

Nick

The latest version of Quarantine 2 has been uploaded for download and play! The exe has also seen an update; as of now, the exe will automatically boot up into a local version of Quarantine 2.

The guns have been nerfed a bit, as its now harder for weapons to insta-kill zombies. Weapon ping's occasionally didn't show damage, which has also been fixed. You can also now right-click Ammo to pick it up!

I've spent more time optimizing the zombie ai, and have managed to re-add special infected. Spitter's have recieved an upgrade in regards to their firing acid move, while Boomer's have seen a general improvement of their exploding effect.

A new special infected named Recker has been introduced! This character functions as a tank style enemy. With a large amount of health and strength, this enemy will require several players in order to be defeated.

Reckers are not affected by barbwire. You will be alerted to an imbound Recker as indicated by your screen beginning to shake!

Female players have also been re-added as I fixed and improved the player customization window. As I continue working I'll still need to add additional hairstyles and clothing for both genders, but overall everything should be functioning properly!

I'm also in the process of improving effects; fires now spawn from explosion's created by destructible objects spread along maps.

You can play and download Quarantine 2 for FREE over here.

Here's a full list of the changes below;

- ADDED
human players can now walk through teammates
new perk: Run N' Gun - Allows players to move and fire their weapon
new ai- Recker: Shakes players screen when close, has significantly increased health/damage, very slow, not affected by barbwire
explosive barrells!
- players can move by bumping into
- CHANGED
overall zombie health increased
overall weapon accuracy decreased(its now less likely for players to insta-kill zombies)
Special Infected have been re-added/optimized
Spitters firing have been improved
Boomers explosion improved
Female characters have been re-introduced
- FIXED
human ai dissapered when too far away from player
player customization issues
damage modifier sometimes did not display when damaging zombies
Players could not pick up stacked ammo- players can now RIGHT CLICK ammo on the ground to pick it up
- REMOVED
players can no longer fire a weapon and move at the same time(new perk added)

I've uploaded a new version of Quarantine 2, and in this update I've fixed some major bugs that made the servers go offline for a couple days while also adding new exciting features while improving previous systems.

I'm very proud to announce that the game now features human AI that will be able to assist real players in completing levels! Bots will spawn once a player initiates the game level, and will automatically fill until the total alive player count is 4. They will spawn with random weapons and will pick a random player to begin following.

Bots have the ability to revive downed players, search for ammo, and evade zombies while still following the player. Players will also be able to revive downed bots.

I've also uplodated a download link for a singleplayer version of Quarantine 2! Now players can host their own private servers for others to join. Hosts are given an additional interface option within the main menu, and from here have full control over their server.

While savefiles can be transferred between Official Servers-- joining a Player Server will not transfer your savefile from the Official Servers.

Player spectating has also been added, and allows you to either free-roam the map or follow an alive player. I'm actually contemplating on removing the free-roam option, as currently as a spectator you can leave the map-bounds. But for now the feature is still available to play around with.

Character outfits have also been introduced as well as a complete redesign of the character menu located within the Customization tab: You now have the option to change the skin color of your player, as well as unlock new outfits!

I still need to add some outfits for the female character design- so I went ahead and removed the option to change your gender, however; the next update I should be about to pump out some more outfit designs.

Overall optimizations and cpu reductions have seen a major improvement on gameplay, and as such I'm able to add more zombies to the map at a time! Simply choosing a harder difficulty will result in more zombies being spawned on the map, as well as increasing their overall strength and health!