Leadwerks Game Engine

What is wrong?
Over the past year we've learned a lot, both from mistakes and successes, and now that we are a year into development of Disinfection we've started to realize something important:
Though the current engine has been great for us to start game-development in, being easy to use and very comfortable for us personally, it has slowly but surely become a major crutch for us.
This has become a major cause in us either not implementing features/content or implementing them in a simplified format. The current engine simply either doesn't support or doesn't have features we need for Disinfection. There have been attempts on implementing these things ourselves but this has proven to be a major challenge. Too major. So we knew for sure that we needed to tackle this sooner or later.

Jeroen had set out to find an alternative and had found a great one in the form of Godot. This engine has all the features we need, plus it is fully open-source so it is much easier to implement anything we are missing. It is also a much more modern and well-maintained engine, which supports many of the latest features you can find in modern games. Jeroen already has been working on a side-project (called 'Keep it Running') in Godot for over a month before making this decision and the results have been very pleasing.

How will/has this transition play(ed) out and can I still play the game?
The current version of the game is temporarily feature-locked, meaning that no new features will be added to it until the transition is done. However the current version will remain playable until the new version of the game is ready to replace it.
The 'Testing Beta' version of the game has already been replaced with the new version so we can do public testing. You can choose yourself if you want to opt into this new Testing Beta or not via Steam.
Feedback will help us a lot, so feel free to opt-in and let us know what you think of the changes once the new version is live and during its development.

How long will this take and will there be regular updates?
Can't really predict how long this will take, so far it has taken about 4 months and we are about 60% there. Updates are regular, every week or every two weeks. There are also regular update posts on the Steam store page (news) to keep you up to date on the progress.

What has changed so far and what will change?
Well... pretty much everything is getting a (small) do-over. Porting everything over to the new game engine allows us to take a fresh look at every aspect of the game, such as models, textures and code.
- The lobby has gotten an huge overhaul, with an smaller design (for less walking) with much more detail and interesting elements.
- The level generator has gotta a lot of revamping, it now allows for more interesting level arrangements such as looping hallways and more variations in how various sections are attached to each other.
- The AI is getting a big revamp, as it needs to be remade from the ground up. We already have much better pathfinding for the monster for example. The hunting monsters are now separate from the Infection Source too now, making for more dynamic gameplay. Each monster will be unique in how it hunts and behaves as well.
- Animations are all getting reworked too. Godot allows for much more advanced animations, that can dynamically and smoothly adapt to changing situations and that allow for much better interactions between various entities in the game. The monster has gotten the first new animations, such as smashing and forcing open doors. The player animations have been improved greatly as well.
- Sound plays a big role in Disinfection, and with the new game engine comes a new sound system too. One that is much, much more advanced. Sounds get muffled and reverberate depending on the environment, which makes everything so much more immersive.
- Of course the graphics have changed quite a bit too, with fancy realtime Global Illumination and Volumetric Lighting amongst many other things. Yet... the performance has improved quite a bit.
- Loading screen are a thing of the past, instead there are nice animated transitions to keep you immersed in the game.
- Many, many fixes for issues we had with the old version of the game.
And many more things.

Here's the new PDA and medbay:

The new Mission Select interface, which now allows you to use your mouse with a proper dynamic GUI:

The new Tools and Weapons rack, and airlock:

The Monster chases you relentlessly:


Check out the games Steam store page for more regular updates, with more details.