Contamination Europe: a PAARPG

Per

Per

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Since the beginning of 2012, German indie developers msGameDevelopment have been working on a post-apocalyptic action RPG that they call Contamination Europe, using the Unity engine to put you in a slightly blasted Germany of tomorrow.<blockquote>In 2065 a global nuclear war destroyed human civilization, and nearly killed everyone and everything on Earth. The few that survived the war formed new factions and communities in the remnants of the destroyed cities. As time passes new species emerge, mutated by radiation. Eighty-nine years later the world is still a rotting graveyard, but a few survivors continue fighting to see the next day.</blockquote>
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Resource wars, nukes, bleak landscapes, mutated animals, "Radiated Ones", the traders of Nob, the junkers of Iron Town, tribals, raider clans, sentient goo that breeds "Plague Mutants" to oppose humanity, a "Panzer League" that operates out of underground bunkers and fights the mutants using pre-war power armour and energy weapons but mistrusts outsiders... some of this stuff is just vaguely familiar! There are some ambitious design goals however:<blockquote>
  • Contamination Europe is a 3rd person RPG but it’s possible to switch in a topdown view and play in this perspective too.
  • We’re focusing on a very realistic gameplay. The game will be hardcore, not easy-casual. E.g., inventory is limited by space and weight, every item has weight, so you can’t carry unlimited ammo. Some equipment is too bulky to fit into the backpack, these items can only be equipped directly e.g. some armors, if the player wants to equip another armor, the old one must be dropped.
  • Full character system with attributes, skills and advantages, resistances against radiation, biological and chemical agents
  • Realistic game world: high tech equipment or clean food are very rare and valuable. This means low tech equipment is more important, because the good stuff can’t be found at every corner.
  • Dangerous environment. The environment is contaminated with radiation, biological threats like bacteria and viruses as well as toxic gases. If the Player has no proper equipment to protect him, he will die quickly in these areas.
  • Different ways to solve a quest.
  • Many playable areas, linked by a world map (like Fallout 1+2 or Baldurs Gate)
  • Dark, harsh mood and setting. The atmosphere should convey a believable and depressing post-apocalyptic feeling.
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Head over to their website if you want to read a few more history tidbits, see a few more pics, follow a few more relevant links (their YouTube channel has a bunch of concept art and engine previews), and learn about their upcoming Indiegogo fundraising campaign.
 
Hoo boy does that sound familiar.
Well, if the gameplay is good and the setting works out...
 
I watched the videos on YT. It doesn't look bad so far, but they should really decide between third person or birds view, because I am pretty sure that if they use both, at least one of these modes will be shit in the end. Also I hope the gameworld will not stay as brown-everywhere as it currently is.
 
Izual said:
It's not original
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Yup, they'd rather do some post-apo RPG... before the apocalypse actually happened ! :rolleyes:
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I'm not that bothered by lack of originality. On the face of it, A Song of Ice & Fire isn't original either. It's what you do with the details that matters.

Still, there's a lot you *can* do with post-apocalyptic concepts. We've seen it done in things like Day of the Triffids or, uh, Waterworld. It's not obligated though, but with the current density of post-apocalyptic games, I can imagine people being a little bored by another "it's post-nuclear", without any other touches or details. Even Afterfall had something more going for it than that.
 
Sounds to me like a bunch of people who didn't like the way Fallout 3 and NV were handled decided to do something about it, other than complain on forums.

While I'm sure they are heavily inspired by fallout, fallout's setting wasn't exactly original.
Hulking green nuclear mutants, giant animals and irradiated zombie types have been cliches of nuclear science since it's inception.
The desolate landscape has been used in countless post nuclear stories and movies because it makes sense.
Fallout draws directly from the Road Warrior series(For those of you living under rocks in caves on mars for the past 33 years.) Even the music for Vault City bares a striking resemblance to the 'Underground' music from Boy and his Dog.
They make no effort to hide their sources of inspiration.
I don't blame anyone else for being inspired by Fallout.
All I care about is more content. Especially from people who think they can do it better.
 
Well, but from a computer game kind of view, Fallout was pretty original.
 
Lexx said:
Well, but from a computer game kind of view, Fallout was pretty original.
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There's always a first.

But I wouldn't complain if post apocalyptic RPGs become a trend rather than first person shooters about war in the middle east.

Considering how many Fallout games failed to capture the fallout feel by not quite getting it right. I imagine it's pretty hard to make a non-fallout game seem like a fallout game.
I think Bethesda could use some competition, especially if it's from fans of classic Fallout who know what they and others want in this kind of game.

Also, on the subject of the Postman, how many parallels can you find between Postman and New Vegas?
We've got a Courier, a dam, a ridiculous, laughable, over the top bad guy who promotes racism and slavery. What else?
 
Fantasy setting games typically have some knowns: dwarves are short, bearded, scottish beer-swilling, axe wielding miners; elves, hobbits/halflings and the rest of the races are stereotyped. Outside of the setting, though, the rest is open to originality.

This new game doesn't just borrow from the Fallout setting, it completely recycles it. Radioactively changed critters and mutants I can see being a necessity in a post-nuclear apocalyptic setting, but an introverted, weapons technology worshipping dying clan is not. Most any group that survives the ashes of a nuclear war with their technology intact would inherently dominate the landscape. They wouldn't hide in a bunker and just look for relics.

I'll still give it a shot, but I'd like to see some more originality.
 
Lexx said:
Well, but from a computer game kind of view, Fallout was pretty original.
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The retro 50s things was an original addition, but otherwise Fallout wasn't billed as the spiritual successor to Wasteland for nothing. I distinctly remember being thrilled when I started hearing rumors of Wasteland sequel in the mid-1990s and have always viewed Fallout in that light.

I have no complaints that a great game was inspired by another great game, but Fallout was not an original concept for a game.
 
Well, if you go by that, then there is nowhere an original game to be found. Except if it is the very first of its kind. Which limits the "original concept" games to a quite small list.
 
I agree with most previous posts about the originality thing.
Just think of the fantasy setting: there you have the typical ingridients, factions and behaviours, you find in nearly every fantsay novel, movie or game since 30 years. If you go after that, then Tolkiens Lord of the Rings is the only original I can think of, because it first described this typical setting.

As for the nuclear post-apo setting: I think there are a few logical necessities. First there was a nuclear war, that means the whole earth is radiated. Its proven that radiation causes mutations. So there are not really much choices as to include mutants and mutated animals. Or the other way around: If there are no mutants/mutations in a nuclear post-apo setting, what else should be there? Vampires? Werewolfes? Aliens?

Considering the tech-clan living in bunkers: Try to imagine a real post apo setting – even if there is a faction with technology, you still have to maintain this technology. You need spare parts, fuel and personnel with enough knowledge to repair it. Just think of todays military equipment, what supply chain is needed to keep it operational? Now transfer this to a post-apo setting when theres no more supply and infrastructure. What else can you do then to scavange and look for old relicts?

Given that it also makes sense to live in bunkers and prerserve the valuable tech for oneselfes and use it punctual, instead of going out and try to conquer huge areas. This would definitively work for some time but sooner or later the tech will have malfunctions because its constantly used without proper maintenance.

It also makes sense, that a high-tech faction would only allow real loyal persons to join and use their equipment. Think of the distrust and selfishness of people nowadays. Now again transfer this human behaviour into a post-apo setting, then the sentence „Every man for himself!“ has a new dimension. If everyone who wants can join, you wouldn’t get a mighty high-tech army that dominates the landscape, instead the high-tech stuff would be plundered.

Another thing to be considered is the balancing. In a game you need progression, that means at start you are weak, at end you are strong. This formula also works for equipment and enemies. So you have to include weak, medium and high end enemies and equipment.

But if there is a high-tech faction, that already has conquered the whole game area and killed any resistance, against what enemies you should fight? It also would give the player the opportunity to loot powerful equipment too early in the game.

At least in my opinion its original enough considering the things I wrote above. Besides that Contamination Europe doesn’t play in an alternate reality or 50s style setting. It also doesn’t play in America.
And its always good to have a game with some good old school mechanics on the radar.

The more important thing for me is the atmosphere of the game. Does it have a dark feeling? I also expect deserted, try, brown and grey landscapes – green grass and woods really wouldn’t fit the setting. E.g., I really was disappointed of F:NV – there was no post-apo feeling anymore, no bombed city ruins, blue sky, yellow desert, and worst of all: cowboy hats, cowboy pistols, cowboy repeaters – howdy. For me it was no post-apo game but a cowboy game (only my opinion).
 
F:NV was a post-post-apocalyptic game. It was about how all the postnuclear societies have adapted.
 
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