After quite a few sad and/or frustrated e-mails, it became clear that something must be said about last week’s "news" update. This was an April Fool’s joke. We are in NO WAY removing the aliens from the Natural Selection. Some people got the joke, but it probably should’ve been a bit more outrageously-written. Don’t worry, the aliens are here to stay.
The LAN playtesting at Iron Lore Entertainment went quite well. Well enough that the team decided that it was time to start wider-scale playtesting. About 20 forum-goers were selected as playtesters, the playtest build was created (sounds so easy when described like that) and servers were configured and prepped. The playtesters and members of the NS team played from Friday, April 5th at 10pm EST, through Sunday the 7th, until about midnight. At one point, there were three servers running, each with between six and ten players. All together, there were probably about 50 games played throughout the weekend, with a few games lasting upwards of two hours.
Alien kingdoms rose and fell, and many a marine lost their lives, often alone and in the dark.
As we work out bugs and make improvements, more playtesters will be added. When the game is stable and fun, and the remaining artwork and sound has been completed, the first version of Natural Selection will be released.
For screenshots of the playtest, check the General forum.