ROADMAP
SEPTEMBER 2021
Good day, Friends!
First and foremost, we would like to thank you for your continuous interest in our game. We have finally launched our own official game website. This website will serve as a central hub for the entire Level Zero community playerbase, where future players and those who are simply interested in Level Zero, will be able to find the latest information on the game's development.
We will be posting project related news and devblogs to inform you of the current development progress.
Hold tight! This devblog will be quite long and informative. We would like to tell you more about what is Level Zero, cover some of the planned gameplay features and game mechanics. You will find lots of new and interesting information about the game, whether you have just heard of it, or have been following the project since its first days. Hope you will like it!
First and foremost, we would like to thank you for your continuous interest in our game. We have finally launched our own official game website. This website will serve as a central hub for the entire Level Zero community playerbase, where future players and those who are simply interested in Level Zero, will be able to find the latest information on the game's development.
We will be posting project related news and devblogs to inform you of the current development progress.
Hold tight! This devblog will be quite long and informative. We would like to tell you more about what is Level Zero, cover some of the planned gameplay features and game mechanics. You will find lots of new and interesting information about the game, whether you have just heard of it, or have been following the project since its first days. Hope you will like it!
A little bit about us
As of today, our team consists of 4 full-time developers, and a few outsourced developers. We are all close friends and live in different countries: Canada, Ukraine, Russia. Since childhood, we played and still play computer games and are very experienced players in different genres. Each of us has always had a dream to create his own game project based on the experience and mistakes of other games. Some of us have already created several small game projects, and so we got together and came to something bigger. We are all self-taught and still learn to develop games, which is an endless process for any developer.
As of today, our team consists of 4 full-time developers, and a few outsourced developers. We are all close friends and live in different countries: Canada, Ukraine, Russia. Since childhood, we played and still play computer games and are very experienced players in different genres. Each of us has always had a dream to create his own game project based on the experience and mistakes of other games. Some of us have already created several small game projects, and so we got together and came to something bigger. We are all self-taught and still learn to develop games, which is an endless process for any developer.
LEVEL ZERO will always be a horror!
For those who are not familiar with our game, Level Zero is a tactical online first-person horror game, team-by-team. The task of people is to repair the space station where darkness reigns. Survivors will have to defend themselves with light devices and traps that they will find at the station. The monsters must prevent repairs, and with the help of their telepathic abilities, find and kill survivors.
First of all, we want to note that Level Zero is a horror game, and will always remain so. Our goal is to maintain the horror atmosphere even after having players spend a long time in the game, and we will do everything to scare you even after 500 hours played. But we do not leave out the competitiveness and the desire to win, which is found in games like "Dead by Daylight". Our task is to always keep a balance between these two components. As we all know, any horror ceases to be scary after a while, precisely because the player has nothing to lose. If you have heard about games like "Dayz" and "Escape From Tarkov", you probably know that feeling when your hands are shaking with adrenaline, and your heart jumps out during a firefight. This is because there is a lot to lose in these games. Therefore, our development plans include the addition of a game component where the player will lose something worth worrying about, whether it is a unique item that he can use from game to game and can lose it upon death, or a rank that will be given to him for victory or lost upon defeat. We have never seen a horror game with mechanics like this, and it inspires us. Our game will always be multiplayer and we are convinced that real players are always more unpredictable and dangerous in comparison to artificial intelligence characters.
For those who are not familiar with our game, Level Zero is a tactical online first-person horror game, team-by-team. The task of people is to repair the space station where darkness reigns. Survivors will have to defend themselves with light devices and traps that they will find at the station. The monsters must prevent repairs, and with the help of their telepathic abilities, find and kill survivors.
First of all, we want to note that Level Zero is a horror game, and will always remain so. Our goal is to maintain the horror atmosphere even after having players spend a long time in the game, and we will do everything to scare you even after 500 hours played. But we do not leave out the competitiveness and the desire to win, which is found in games like "Dead by Daylight". Our task is to always keep a balance between these two components. As we all know, any horror ceases to be scary after a while, precisely because the player has nothing to lose. If you have heard about games like "Dayz" and "Escape From Tarkov", you probably know that feeling when your hands are shaking with adrenaline, and your heart jumps out during a firefight. This is because there is a lot to lose in these games. Therefore, our development plans include the addition of a game component where the player will lose something worth worrying about, whether it is a unique item that he can use from game to game and can lose it upon death, or a rank that will be given to him for victory or lost upon defeat. We have never seen a horror game with mechanics like this, and it inspires us. Our game will always be multiplayer and we are convinced that real players are always more unpredictable and dangerous in comparison to artificial intelligence characters.
"A beefed up Among Us" or the addition of new game modes
Before talking about the new game modes, you should know what is already in the game. At the moment there are several PvP game modes that differ in the number of players per team: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and the popular asymmetric mode, which in our case is 2v4. We decided to make the asymmetric mode a 2v4 , as this allows the monsters team to play tactically and share emotions between at least two players, which is very important in the gameplay. Those who have already played our game know about its advantages in terms of graphics and sound. Therefore, we thought about it, and decided to add a new mode in the style of "Among Us" and "Deceit", as this will expand the audience of the game and help us to gather a stronger community. Just imagine how cool it would be to play such a game in a "Mafia" mode, with cool graphics and a well-developed horror component, where the imposter is a horrible monster. Basically, the new mode will be very similar to Among Us, but the game mechanics will be taken from our game, which will make the mode unique in this genre. The Imposter will be able to transform into a monster and block all electronics in the space station, which will cause players to split up and plunge into a horror atmosphere. You can pretend to be someone's partner, block doors, turn off lights, place traps and other mechanics that are already implemented in the current standard modes of Level Zero
Before talking about the new game modes, you should know what is already in the game. At the moment there are several PvP game modes that differ in the number of players per team: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and the popular asymmetric mode, which in our case is 2v4. We decided to make the asymmetric mode a 2v4 , as this allows the monsters team to play tactically and share emotions between at least two players, which is very important in the gameplay. Those who have already played our game know about its advantages in terms of graphics and sound. Therefore, we thought about it, and decided to add a new mode in the style of "Among Us" and "Deceit", as this will expand the audience of the game and help us to gather a stronger community. Just imagine how cool it would be to play such a game in a "Mafia" mode, with cool graphics and a well-developed horror component, where the imposter is a horrible monster. Basically, the new mode will be very similar to Among Us, but the game mechanics will be taken from our game, which will make the mode unique in this genre. The Imposter will be able to transform into a monster and block all electronics in the space station, which will cause players to split up and plunge into a horror atmosphere. You can pretend to be someone's partner, block doors, turn off lights, place traps and other mechanics that are already implemented in the current standard modes of Level Zero
Our plans after the release of Level Zero into Early Access Alpha
First of all, we will inevitably have to spend some time on the stability of the gameplay, fixing minor bugs, and adjust the team balance. We hope that it will take no more than 1-2 weeks. We need this stage because we do not have the opportunity to test the game with a large audience, given our small team and the absence of an investor in our project. We ask you to help us with this, and send screenshots with bugs to our bug report in our official Discord channel.
With the receipt of the first tranche of revenue from Steam, we want to expand our development team and completely rework all character animations, since this is a weak part of the game and we are fully aware of it. The plans are sure to add impressive animations for finishing off survivors with their dismemberment. We look forward to redesign the animations in the game until they become more natural and pleasing to the eye. An addition of a full-time character artist to the team will give us the opportunity to add new monster and human characters, so that the player has a variety to choose from.
As soon as we are done fixing bugs, we will begin with the addition of new content. First of all, we will add more telepathic abilities to monsters and more opportunities to human characters, so that the gameplay is as diverse as possible. In parallel, the station's repair system will be overhauled. The new system will be more interactive and will slow down the gameplay making it more horrific. Players will have to identify breakdowns by opening the covers of the electrical panels, inspect its components, after which understand whether it is broken or not. After finding toolboxes, the repair process will be more in the form of a mini-game. There will be several options for winning, you do not necessarily need to repair the station, but also evacuate on a space shuttle by collecting everything you need for this. We want to empower players to choose how to win.
Next, we will add a new "Mafia" mode, which we wrote about above, and in parallel we will begin work on a new map that will take us to our time, to our planet. It will be a fresh breath of air for those players who do not like space and Sci-Fi settings.
At all these stages, work will always be carried out on expanding and finalizing the existing map, adding more secret rooms, which will allow players to have more points of interest and diversify the gameplay. With each update, we will surprise you with new interesting horror mechanics, screamers, and we want it to be unexpected for you.
First of all, we will inevitably have to spend some time on the stability of the gameplay, fixing minor bugs, and adjust the team balance. We hope that it will take no more than 1-2 weeks. We need this stage because we do not have the opportunity to test the game with a large audience, given our small team and the absence of an investor in our project. We ask you to help us with this, and send screenshots with bugs to our bug report in our official Discord channel.
With the receipt of the first tranche of revenue from Steam, we want to expand our development team and completely rework all character animations, since this is a weak part of the game and we are fully aware of it. The plans are sure to add impressive animations for finishing off survivors with their dismemberment. We look forward to redesign the animations in the game until they become more natural and pleasing to the eye. An addition of a full-time character artist to the team will give us the opportunity to add new monster and human characters, so that the player has a variety to choose from.
As soon as we are done fixing bugs, we will begin with the addition of new content. First of all, we will add more telepathic abilities to monsters and more opportunities to human characters, so that the gameplay is as diverse as possible. In parallel, the station's repair system will be overhauled. The new system will be more interactive and will slow down the gameplay making it more horrific. Players will have to identify breakdowns by opening the covers of the electrical panels, inspect its components, after which understand whether it is broken or not. After finding toolboxes, the repair process will be more in the form of a mini-game. There will be several options for winning, you do not necessarily need to repair the station, but also evacuate on a space shuttle by collecting everything you need for this. We want to empower players to choose how to win.
Next, we will add a new "Mafia" mode, which we wrote about above, and in parallel we will begin work on a new map that will take us to our time, to our planet. It will be a fresh breath of air for those players who do not like space and Sci-Fi settings.
At all these stages, work will always be carried out on expanding and finalizing the existing map, adding more secret rooms, which will allow players to have more points of interest and diversify the gameplay. With each update, we will surprise you with new interesting horror mechanics, screamers, and we want it to be unexpected for you.
What to expect from version 1.0, Game release
We plan to spend no more than a year on the alpha version of the game and then launch it into release. Towards the end of the Alpha version, we will begin work on the ranking system and add a global inventory to the game. Your rank will determine how good a player you are and will reflect your game experienced among others. In each game session, you will find unique items that you can use in the next game and lose them in case of death. All your items will be stored in the main menu of the inventory, and it is up to you to take them into the game session or not. There are many more plans that we have not disclosed. There will be more further.
Closer to the release, we are also planning to introduce game skins for characters that you can unlock by increasing your rank or buying them on Steam marketplace.
Join our official Discord channel and help us make the game better with your ideas! We are always open to discuss!
We plan to spend no more than a year on the alpha version of the game and then launch it into release. Towards the end of the Alpha version, we will begin work on the ranking system and add a global inventory to the game. Your rank will determine how good a player you are and will reflect your game experienced among others. In each game session, you will find unique items that you can use in the next game and lose them in case of death. All your items will be stored in the main menu of the inventory, and it is up to you to take them into the game session or not. There are many more plans that we have not disclosed. There will be more further.
Closer to the release, we are also planning to introduce game skins for characters that you can unlock by increasing your rank or buying them on Steam marketplace.
Join our official Discord channel and help us make the game better with your ideas! We are always open to discuss!
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