This week is all about fixes and fun! As you will see in the changelog below we have made many adjustments to all of the maps including our newest awesome addition Caged. After the re-introduction of projectile spores last week, we decided to continue and tweak values and it shows progress but will probably still need some adjusting. Flamethrowers also are seeing some love as before they were just heavy lighting effects, now they do some damage.

New this week is the addition of a new pre-game mode called Warm-up. Our testing has shown that players generally avoid seeding servers, but with Warm-Up players can play a simple format of the game with all the tech unlocked and no resources …

After the successful construction of a new mining station on asteroid codename: Kodiak, the crew of the Industrial Construction Vessel “Caged” sent out a distress signal. ALTERRA Corp quickly dispatched a private military unit to investigate the source of the distress, what they found was an empty vessel and no signs of human life…

Welcome to Caged, the newest official map in the NS2 universe. A throwback to the original NS1 Map by Nelson ‘manah’ Ferryman, Flaterectomy and other community contributors and testers have worked to honor the original but also offer a new take for the current state of play. Caged offers players a fun four techpoint map with plenty of res and unique rooms and corridors for …

Aliens didn’t get all the love, though. Marines have also received some new toys and changes to their existing tech. A preliminary version of the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) has been added. This is a gun that was loved in NS1 and one which many of us have always wanted to see make a return in NS2. The HMG was pioneered successfully in Comp Mod, and now it has made its way into the main game.

We’ve also heard your cries and beacons, and recognize that Contamination tended to be very frustrating for Marines. We’ve made some changes to how it works to give Marine players more time to react to it. It will now do its damage over time …

The room was eerily silent, even the normal white noise of the industrial facility seemed to vanish. I proceeded forward as ordered but something felt uneasy and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand up. I continue to tell myself that I am a trained soldier and that I’ve encountered enough alien scum that nothing should surprise me, but still the unease raced across my body and the fear set in even more than before.

Suddenly I hear an all too familiar sound, one that can only be described as vacuumous vortex that death so quickly follows. I stand at the ready, shotgun in hand as I prepare for the Fade that I …

Following on from the March and April entries, it is time to update Planet Earth on what is going on with Natural Selection 2. This is a retrospective look at development in May. To keep the length under control, (April’s entry was a bit overboard!) this post will stick to three topics: Environments, Technical, and Game. Let’s start with Biodome!

Environments

Michael, (‘Olmy’) has been cranking on Biodome. The map is striking, thanks to its new art set and ‘flora’ focus. The accompanying images show some of the stages environments go through, from idea (1, above), to rough 3d layouts (2, below), to texturing, lighting, detailing and prop placement (3, two below).

Biodome will be an absolute blast, but …

It is update time! Build 247 lives, and is live on Steam. Go download it and sink your teeth in!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hhOK-UrdiI

The two main new features in 247 are the in-game vote system and some very basic training bots. The former should improve the ability of players to manage their play experience, and the latter will bring on our doom at the hands of Skynet.

Here is the full changelog (minus some map changes, which will be added to the log later):

Features:

Added Server Details window to the server browser
Added “server name” field to server browser filters
Added filter tabs in server browser
Added history tap to server browser
Added in game voting system (change map, kick player, …

Brian tried to stop us. ‘No! Not another patch! I don’t know if I can handle another patch!’ But we made him do it. The 19th post-release update is now live on Steam, where you can download it, keep it on your hard drive, and even play it!

Build 246 is a fun build because it allows you to play Last Stand, La Fauche, and Fighter – The three mods created during the UWE Modjam just over a week ago. They are in various states of disrepair and dysfunction, but the basics are there and you can host your own games. We are working on releasing the source code soon, so that you can improve on what we …

Aww yeah, it’s patch day! Natural Selection 2 Build 244 is out in the wild and ready for you to play. It was a doozy to get out the door, scheduled for Thursday PDT but sneaking out Friday afternoon PDT instead. This is post-launch update number 17 for NS2! Here is a changelog highlights video:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrFkNxMy3Q

Lots of stuff changed in Build 244. Mineshaft and Refinery received lots of love, Andi made balance tweaks, Dushan changed the way the Spark Editor works, and Brian fixed a bug. The changes to Mineshaft and Refinery have made several tech points much more viable, and eliminated long standing indisyncricies of fights in certain rooms. For example, check out the changes to Operations:…

At Unknown Worlds, Natural Selection 2 is king. Five months since launch, we have not moved on to any new projects and everyone is cranking on NS2 full time. Here’s a video talking about some of the stuff happening in the office at the moment:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jom2-U3986w

In the long term, Biodome is going to be drop dead-gorgeous. It’s not yet near completion, but Cory’s gorgeous artwork should give you a taste of what is to come. Here it is in medium-resolution glory (Silly WordPress not letting us upload files >1mb!).

If there is one theme that characterises NS2 development right now, it is ‘thinking.’ Thinking about gameplay, about engine technology, and about the best way to spend our limited …