O slimy serendipity! The saga of the troubled sequel to one of the finest-ever Half-Life mods may finally be coming to an end. According to the official website, modders-gone-pro Uknown Worlds’ man v beast FPS-RTS is on track for release via Steam this Autumn/Fall. And to help back up this dubious claim, Kotaku have rounded up some exclusive footage of this hitherto super-mysterious standalone sequel, the jammy b’stards. Reportedly the below is entirely in-engine – in which case crikey.
That’s all their own engine, too. While I wouldn’t put money on the game itself looking quite as shiny as this presumably ultra-textured and hand-lit scripted snippet, it gives us a general sense of the look and tone they’re going for with NS2.
That there’s still so very little in the way of screenshots and the like after all these years is a bit of a worry, but Unknown Worlds are so confident the release is finally on-track (thanks to some outside investment) that you can pre-order NS2, in normal or special edition flavours, right now. While it’s obviously a bit of a gamble to do so, it will get you early access to the upcoming beta.
We’ll be seeing a lot more of this one over the next few months, I don’t doubt.
Related Stories:
They have developed a cinematic tool which will ship with the game, This teaser most likely came from that with a few touchups with some more powerful software
There were a few questions raised on IRC about the ability for early pre-orders to be compatible with the steam version, where upon a post was pointed out:
“Natural Selection 2 Oh, I didn’t know 3rd party games could unlock the Steam version for people? Assume that pre-ordering now doesn’t give you the Steam version, but we might be able to make that happen, no promises!”
You may, therefore, wish to wait a bit if you are dead-set on having a Steam version of NS2.
While I could see the appeal, I could never really get into NS. It’s going to take several of my friends absolutely loving it to get me to buy this one.
Wow. I’m blown away that they’ve actually set a release date. I’ve sort of been following their blog and I was starting to get convinced that the game was vaporware. They always struck me as being all talk but I guess they’ve just been tight-lipped about revealing what they’ve actually been doing.
check out the dynamic lighting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH-SH1Iw6TY#t=0m56s
OHNOES!
EVERYBODY DONCE!
Haha, had almost forgotten about this, but I guess no news was good news. Combat came out around when work killed my free time, so my memories are almost completely untainted. Had so many great games of this, and surprisingly few crappy ones, but I had a few great servers to play on. I look forward to slaughtering those bastard invader Marines with careful turret placement and some gorge spit action once again.
Also, shame on those who say combat is better
My favorite FPS scenario is losing as a Marine on a Combat map. (I make a distinction between properly losing and getting steamrolled in 20 seconds.) You’d have 10-12 minutes of crazy desperation: guys humping the command chair with welders, jetpackers nade spamming the Onos rampaging inside the base, heavies getting sliced to death by Fades, a group of guys with shotguns holding off a corridor against all odds. You know all is lost, but you keep on fighting, thinking of what crazy shit you’ll try and pull after you respawn and before the nearby Onos eats you. Sometimes you’d even hold off the attack and manage to bring the fight to the aliens.
I don’t know if it’s sadistic to enjoy that type of round, and it certainly tosses Classic NS out the window and then pisses on it, but it was just so insane and fun.
I also must add, is that a lork on the clorf? Or perhaps a scorpian that hovars without flapping?
This was my first time to order a game the day that pre-order is available. Like many have said, putting down $40 is nothing if you consider the many hours of fun NS 1 gave us. I can’t adequately describe why I like it so much, but it’s a unique style of gameplay that gives both twitching FPS gamers and thinking-man players something to do.
The size of UWE and their effective outsourcing of game media creation is really inspiring, and I owe them this much for letting us see the process of taking a unique idea and capitalizing on it!
side note: Worried about lighting? I’d link you to some dev blog posts where they show how serious they are, but there’s a solid example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH-SH1Iw6TY&fmt=18
“Commander, we need torrents!!!1″
Special version will be preordered when I come home today.
NS was one of the best games ever, and I guess NS2 will just get better :-)
I successfully ordered the special edition.
I can die a happy man now. :3
“The monster roaring at the screen” has to be one of the most worn out cliches in gamedom. It’s not scary or impressive anymore. A fast, silent and purposeful predator – now, that is scary.
Wow, the Onos finally looks like more of a predator – in the original it always confused me to why a Herbivore would be attacking AND eating humans… It was essentially a spacecow… it had cow like teeth… but ate humans?!
Lerk all the way <3
Natural Selection was one of two games i have played competativly on-line (the others guild wars). I bloody loved it. Felt very at home. You did not have to be a incredably acurate gun player to be usefull to the team…just good at capping nodes and knowing where to be. I still load it up ever now and then but its not the same playing on pubs…i wonder what my 3rd competative online game will be
“ONOS!” “ONOS!” “Comm, Jet Packs and HMGS!”
NS1 was something I sunk a vast amount of time into before I got into my first MMO. The tactics, atmosphere and challenge of it was great, although I did feel that they worked a bit too hard on preventing stalemates – by NS 3 it was rare to see rounds longer than 30 minutes and I really enjoyed some of the old 2-3 hour long rounds. Also, they never made playing Aliens quite as fun as marines.
This trailer is a bit well, meh though. Some gameplay footage would indeed be nice.
To answer Catastrophe:
The Onos was modeled after a rhino or hippo type creature, though the appearance is totally cosmetic. In the back story Onos (and in fact all of the kharra) do not eat since they are actually an organization of a bacterium, which in turn gets all of it’s food from hot and wet places. The hives and creatures spawned from it are the bacterium responding to a macro-level threat. Devour was created after the back story for game reasons, and doesn’t seem to fit it very well I admit.
No one seems to know where marines go after they are devoured, though it’s true that the Onos poops them out the other side, intact. I assume it’s a fast-acting bacterial infection of some sort that shuts down a marine’s personal nanofield and kills in seconds.
And as for gameplay footage, well… there is no gameplay yet. At least none that we know of.
So they’ve been working on this game for how long? They just get the lighting down a few months ago, and now they say the whole game is gonna be done in six months?
I’m not thinking it’s gonna happen.
Haji, bear in mind that they’ve been working on the maps since it was in Source – their new engine uses the same file types for everything, so it’s really easy to convert over; they’re well-versed in orangemapping a level out before adding in all the details; they had the lighting in a usable state quite a lot of months ago, as opposed to two; and they’ve had quite a lot of dev time to get the maps working great even if they don’t have all the details worked out yet.
It’s not difficult to achieve in-game, the big difference is that this is a 100% scripted event which gives them control over everything.
In-game the animations on the Onos are unlikely to be as detailed for performance and perhaps gameplay reasons (it would look silly if the Onos did this animation somewhere it might look out of place).
The physics on the vents could be possible, but they would have to be tied into the door deformation animation as a set scripted sequence, and this would force level designers to use identical end-of-corridor setups to benefit from the effect, which is a bit of a constriction in terms of level design.
The doors could deform in exactly the same way using an identical animation that would play the same every time (the engine uses dynamic lighting, so realtime shadows would be achievable). The team has hinted that doors in NS2 can be welded shut and so perhaps they can also be broken via the Onos. But unless permanant, I can’t see a neat method of refabricating doorways the way this one was destroyed. The ‘gibs’ (or debris) from the animation would have to disappear after animating if the door could be replaced by the Marines somehow, which would undermine the realistic effect slightly. If the animation was one-way, there’s no reason machanically speaking why it couldn’t play out just like this, with any player on the other side of the door getting concussed and hit for massive damage.
I quite like the idea, since traditionally the Onos is supposed to be the mother of all tanks but in NS(1) it was reduced to a paltry hit-and-run and support unit. Giving the Onos the ability to undo the Marines’ most steadfast attempts at suring up their territory would go some way to restoring the ’shock and awe’ factor the Onos is supposed to boast.
Incidentally, the ‘F4′ on the door is an easter egg, this being the button you press to return to the ReadyRoom (the physical in-game lobby area players gather at when selecting teams or post-game). In NS(1), if the other side had reached an unassailable position but was taking its time to finish you off, all members of the losing team could ‘F4′ as a sort of surrender/protest, although most servers have banned the use of F4 at key times during the match and ban abusers because of early-game exploits and the fact that it denies the other team their moment of triumph.
—
Incidentally the team has confirmed they have no plans to make an official ‘Combat’ game mode for NS2, although the Lua coding makes a Combat mod very easily achievable. Considering how popular Combat is, in spite of the problems it caused for NS in general (having to balance shared assets and features for two entirely different game modes, stifling the Classic mapmaking community, to give but two examples), and considering the early exposure of the community to the toolset via pre-orders, I would be very surprised if there weren’t a playable Combat mod for NS2 either complete or in the early stages by the time the game releases.
If I’d never played NS(1) before then I might wait for release before buying this to see if the team can deliver with ‘the tricky second album’. But as I have been playing NS for almost 7 years now, I’ll probably get the bumper pack pre-order as soon as the recession stops kicking me while I’m down.
I’m slightly wary of the gameplay versus NS(1). By all accounts it looks like it’s going to have some significant alterations and there’s scarce information on how those changes may affect the genotype that worked so well in NS(1).
Confirmed changes are:
- the Aliens now have a Commander
- the Aliens can create dynamic infestation to morph the environment as they see fit
- Marines have flamethrowers
- Aliens have more than 3 places to drop the Hive
- A Power Grid system, whereby resource nodes must be linked to a power source to produce resources and structures also must be linked to function
- Room ambience is defined by whether there is an activated power source nearby
- Set locations for the Marine Command Chair (similar to how Hives work)
- Dynamic lighting
- A female player model for the Marines
- No ‘Combat’ game mode
Hinted changes are:
- There may be another Alien class in addition to the Alien Commander
- There may not be any of the official maps from NS(1) seeing a comeback, although if any are revisited, Eclipse seems the most likely.
- Gameplay will have stronger emphasis on attacking/defending well-defined ‘hub’ locations of the map, as opposed to the less static strategic targets in NS(1).
The sequel to Minotaur/China shop IS Armoured Cow/Space Station
Oh wow, a corridor and an indistinct grey lump! And motion blur! That’s almost as impressive as the last Duke Nukem Forever trailer.
The only thing worse than an onos when you are alone is a celerity carapace gorge. You are used to aliens out fighting you close up, make use of long corridors and try and eliminate the obstruction of your vision. But the gorge is a tech 1 alien which can at range out shoot you, and with cel out run you. He can skulk into vents and ambush you, tough enough to survive a few hits and can heal himself, by himself in his vent. And to make matters worse he can deploy turrets, health stations and cloaking cover.
Fuck onos, its all about the combat gorge.
In Tremulouse theres no need for commanders:
Theres a ‘engineer’ class, that is a mix of the “TF2 engineer” plus “Desktop Turret Defense MMO” :-)
Multiple specialized engineers make also really strong and well designed defenses. On a Turret Defense game you fight against dumb hordes of mobs that follow a path. On Tremulous you fight humans, that know the map like his backyard. A poorly places turret will be destroyed, and a good one will be enormeously effective.
On the subject of “That soon? Really?” – well, it might be. Or it might be that they are struggling for cash at the moment so want to suggest the game is near to get pre-order cash in, then announce unexpected delays later. Also, it seems to be a way of getting testers to pay to test (”access to alpha” is promised”) rather than paying for actual testers.
I just hope they can keep the game as tactically deep and as atmospheric as it was first time around. Also: Bring back Bast! (again)
Judging by the comments, apparently a lot of people loved the original… which somehow i’ve never heard of. Could someone give a quick run-down of what the game is actually about? From the reading the comments sounds like sort of a AVP and BF1942 hybrid with one side with a commander trying to defend against an alien horde…
Its 2 games. One half is a capture the points rts like coh or dow. Upgrades, tech tree and deployable structures. The other half is asymmetric action fps, not unlike avp. But when you mash the two together, when that skirmish is over a destroyable base or a sealable door. Each tiny melee matters in the flow of the battle, the tech levels change the types of combat as the game goes on. Onos vs jetpack is a whole different battle to skulk vs heavy armour or fade vs shotgun.
If you own halflife you should try it.
@ilves
It’s a RTS/FPS hybrid, focusing on squad level combat (game is balanced for 6 vs 6 matches). Two very different sides humans and aliens battle over resource gathering and domination of the map. Like most RTSes you tech up and have to decide where best to spend resources – at the same time, you are actually an individual unit on the ground, taking part on the fight (unless you play marine commander, but that is an experience player’s job).
Thematically the game borrows heavily from Space Hulk and Starcraft (a lot of gameplay elements come from SC too). There is a bit of Aliens in there too mind.
This inspired me to reinstall NS1 the other day. For some reason, my cross-hair disappeared after a while and the mouse cursor is black.
Still was amazing though. Combat is a nice distraction but Classic is still where it’s at.
Looks great. The Onos actually looks kind of scary, now.
I hope they’ve made the whole “be a commander”-thing a lot less daunting – the biggest problem I used to run into with NS1 was that no one was willing to be the commander.
Just a bit, yes…
@koam ns_caged will always be a classic NS map. Don’t sell yourself short. Good work!
@ilves: Natural Selection is a Half-Life mod based on the gameplay of a Quake2 mod: http://www.planetgloom.com/
Gloom (Q2 engine) screenshot:
http://www.planetgloom.com/screenshots/shot05.jpg
Tremulous (Q3 engine) screenshot:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8067/tremulous2nt5.jpg
Natural Selection (HL1 engine) screenshot:
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3474/nsolagesiegeb100049xt.jpg
Here is a description of the gameplay:
http://www.warp2search.net/forums/modified-q2-gloom-mod-t333.html
———Mar 2002———-
Gloom an old addictive teamplay deathmatch game with Alien Spiders vs Human Marines with a little RTS thrown in where the Alien Spiders get a Breeder Spider to build a HIVE lair anywhere on a map or the Human Engineer can build a Base anywhere on the map with defenses. The other players can ugrade their classes by getting frags and buying a higher class with more lethal/different combat abilities. The first team to destroy the other teams vulnerable spawns (eggs/telespawns) so the other team can no longer spawn and frag your ass…. wins.
——————
sorry… dbl post.
Anybody knows if this game can be activated on steam?
If it can I’ll get the 40 dollar version, if not I’ll get the 20 one.
Thank you.
According to that preorder page.. “Pre-order is stand-alone and will auto-update, but assume it doesn’t include the Steam version.”
I’d want this game on Steam, I have to say, not as a ‘direct download’.
I see thanks, I think I better wait for the steam release then.
I like having all my games on the same place.
Steam is ‘win’ for multi-player games.. Yay for automatic patching. Quite a few older games I’d re-buy on steam, Battlefield 2 for example.
Oooh nice.
I will be watching this intently.
So brilliant of them to let you decide how much you want to pay. You have the option of a RIDICULOUS bargain at 20 dollars, but you can also if you wish give extra support, and get some recognition for it (very important) just like in the NS1 donation program.
LE APPLAUSE!!!!!
I don’t think it’s a ridiculous bargain really, just realistic pricing – chances are only the diehard fans of the first will easily fork over $40.
Twenty bucks, on the other hand, is a very attractive price to newcomers and doubters.
But I agree – it is very smart to offer both deals.
That’s a tech 3 Gorge you are talking about, or at least a Hive3 Gorge. You mention Carapace and healing stations, which are attributed to the Defence Chamber, you mention Celerity, which is attributed to the Motion Chamber, and you mention cloaking, which is attributed to the Sensory Chamber. To get all of these upgrades you would need to build three Hives and keep the upgrade chambers built for those Hives alive, which effectively means this is a tech 3 Alien.
Sorry to call you on this but you’re chancing a lot giving false information in an NS2 thread! :P
Not to mention I’d rather take on a Celer/Cara Gorge than an Onos because of the high damage and 100% accuracy Pistol in the game.
I don’t think theres anything so hilariously funny as playing as a skulk*, standing on the ceiling and dropping, silently, onto the head of a lone nervous marine, biting just as you land. I’m sure I must have triggered at least one real-life heart attack by doing that.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask the devs to PLEASE implement some sort of “spectator” client that would not remove a “slot” from the number of players, so that folks like me could watch the match without unbalancing the sides. This is a multiplayer game that I would buy at retail JUST to be able to watch matches between other players, the first game was so good.
@Ergates
You have the odd days when you rock, and others (mainly) when you play like crap (hang on, that’s just me :-} ) but the best game I had was similar to the scenario you’re describing – a skulk with celerity, silence, and focus – I took out so many ‘rines by dropping on, or creeping behind them and taking them out it was unreal :-)
If anyone hasn’t played the original (100% free) version of this game before, it’s highly recommended – but you need to have the original Half-Life as it utilises their graphics engine.
There are, as others have said, two game modes – a “combat” mode, where you respawn with the goodies you had before you died, and it’s just all-out-war. It’s great for a quick adrenaline fix :-)
The “classic” version is far more cerebral, and it helps if you can work with your team-mates to build / protect / explore / assault – it can be just as intense (if not moreso) than the “combat” mode, it just takes longer to get the hang of – especially if you want to play the “commander” role, who directs the other team-members around the maps, and controls the way the technology is researched.
Stop reading, go install and play the original !
The onos isn’t AI, it’s playable. Same with the little aliens (did you see him running in the vent and up the wall?)
I am checking NS news every day and there was some moth ore more with no Updates but this last one is awsome so i didn’t spend a second and pre ordered NS2 special edition.
apparently 95% of people are pre-ordering the Special Edition of NS2. This should tell you how many old regulars are just waiting to get back into the game. I already ordered my copy :D
I never played the mood but I just got the special edition.
I couldn´t resist it.
I’ve been waiting for this one forever. Here’s crossing my fingers this turns out well.
Whether marine, commander, or one of the many evolutions of the aliens, there was always many flavors of excitement to have in the roles of the original Natural Selection. #1 mod in existence, IMLTHO.
Combat can and may possibly still be made by others … But the NS2 core will still be all I will play. I just hope a lot of map makers consider this game.
Natural Selection is the ONLY multiplayer FPS game worth playing. After you’ve tried it, nothing feels the same, nothing can compare to it.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask the devs to PLEASE implement some sort of “spectator” client that would not remove a “slot” from the number of players, so that folks like me could watch the match without unbalancing the sides. This is a multiplayer game that I would buy at retail JUST to be able to watch matches between other players, the first game was so good.
All the competitive matches in NS have HLTV running, so 200 people can spectate without even being on the server.