Happy Summer Marines! We are ushering in the sunshine with update 303. This is a lighter patch focused on some bug fixes and a couple tweaks and additions to the game. With this update we are introducing a new post-round feedback system, this will help provide us with more details about your games and comparing round data to support future changes.

The last six months has seen a lot of changes and experimentation to the game and we aren’t done yet. We are working on developing plans over the next week to continue to build on the new foundation that we’ve created over these last few months. Be on the lookout for some exciting new opportunities and changes to come.…

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 …

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 …

Admit it, it just wouldn’t be an Unknown Worlds product if we didn’t push the release date right down to the wire. The Gorgeous release date is February 28th! We were originally aiming for the week of 19 – 22 February, but decided to give the update an extra week to scrub more bugs and fine tune the new content.

Gorgeous is free, and will be automatically delivered by Steam as Build 240. If you own NS2, you won’t have to do anything to get it. It includes Railguns, Gorge Tunnels, Descent, and quite a few fun surprises. Alongside the 13 previous ‘maintenance’ builds, Gorgeous is what the entire UWE team has been working on for the …

A free new addition to existing Natural Selection 2 maps, Descent, is scheduled for late February. This new map, a space station, will take pride of place amongst all the shiny new stuff. Descent Station orbits the planet upon which every other NS2 map is located. Last week, we showed off that view. This week, a little more is revealed:

This is the Shuttle Bay. The TSF Dropship sits ensconced between structural supports, with a control room looking down on the space. This part of the map is very important, because it ties it into existing NS2 maps. In times of peace this bay would have provided harbour for all manner of human spacecraft. At war with the Kharaa, …