Hot Topics, Round #1, with less clothing Options

[Comprox]

In order to try and answer some questions that are floating around, I will be posting answers (from UWE) to various questions. These could be hotly debated things on the forums, or more specific things seen in different threads. They are a busy bunch so I hope to get a short list of questions to them every few days. For the first time then:

Topic: Autobite, and more specifically, Twitter. The autobite has created a mega-thread on the topic, but I figured I would ask them about this. This answer should help for anything you do see on Twitter that may be contraversial in the future too.

Answer: Auto-bite has been removed already actually. Lots of ideas are tried that don't make it into the final version, and this happened with NS1 as well. For example, an overwatch feature was one of the first things to go into NS1. If a marine stood still for a few seconds, an overwatch indicator would come on. If an enemy came into your field of view, you would automatically start tracking it and firing at it. It wasn't perfect, but it would hit skulks reasonably well for you. The idea here was to bring in new players that wanted to follow orders and play as part of a team but didn't necessarily have great reflexes or shooting skills. It was tried and then removed because it didn't seem like it fit well enough or was cool enough given the extra complexity. This kind of stuff happens all the time but normally fans won't hear about because we're not going to write up a news/blog update about something we're not sure of.


Topic: The UWE engine. A lot of technical questions have come up surronding it. Some can answered here: http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/wiki/index.php/Engine . Otherwise, here is quick run down of other, unanswered ones.

Answer:

- Will designers be able to have moving light sources?

-- Yes, although we don't have physics in the editor yet.


- Will the engine be using some kind of skybox system, and if so, how will it work?

-- Yes we have basic skyboxes ala Source.


- Do you know of any engine limits yet? ie: Number of lights in a level or like how source has a weapons limit

-- Nope, we don't have any specific engine limits, although there will be some practical ones. No weapon limit.


- And would you mind explaining what you guys mean by using the PhysX stuff so the people on ATI can stop being scared about it? :)

-- PhysX is just free physics middleware, like Havok. It's very realistic and powerful, but it's also free and takes advantage of hardware acceleration on your video card if supported.


That be all for this time around. If you have anything specific to ask, please go ahead and post. What I ask and what gets answered is not an exact science though so I am sorry if your question gets missed. Anything else I see I will also pass on as well. Hopefully this will keep you guys a little more up to date and having to bug Charlie less!

[Cereal_KillR]

I was fooled by the topic, I expected nekkid pics.

[RikkAndrsn]

I was fooled by the topic, I expected nekkid pics.

I expected deals on hot clothing

[M00_cow]

Excellent!

Thanks Comprox and UWE for taking the time. Much appreciated. It is interesting to hear about things like overwatch, and it sounds like you guys have really made a sweet engine. I can't wait to try out your hard work.

Are you interested in some questions to ask, or are you picking them out of already open topics?

[JAmazon]

I think it was interesting to hear that autobite was already nixed :O Just for the record I didn't like it, but its amazing how fast they can iterate/test something like that :D

[Geezer]

Thanks for clearing that up, Comp.

[SentrySteve]

Two fairly straight forward questions that have been on my mind for a while.

What is being done to ensure that the marines will have movement skill since there's a lack of bunny hopping?

What is being done to ensure that the commander (on both teams) is making actual strategic decisions equivalent to an RTS as opposed to just baby sitting FPS player's requests?

[Comprox]

Excellent!

Thanks Comprox and UWE for taking the time. Much appreciated. It is interesting to hear about things like overwatch, and it sounds like you guys have really made a sweet engine. I can't wait to try out your hard work.

Are you interested in some questions to ask, or are you picking them out of already open topics?

Both, if people post great questions I will pass them on. I will also be on the forums finding stuff too, but if you want to save me some leg work... ;)

[zex]

Can you elaborate on why Autobite was removed? I hope you can reassure me that it was in fact removed because of legitimate gameplay considerations, and not merely because a large volume of forum posters complained about it without the benefit of actually knowing what it was or how it worked.

[Mr. Epic]

thanks for the response

[Triggerman]

Thank you very much, I was getting more and more less inclined to actually read anything on the forum since the discussions were so heated but this should resolve all that.

[slayer20]

Great thread! Hope we get some awesome answers and awesome questions.

[MrWizard]

Trying to stray away from the already expected "When can we expect some sort of release?" question, I am rather curious about one thing from reading your initial set of Q&A's.

That being, with the auto-bite tweet being posted on the 20th [of Oct] and that idea already been scrapped; how has the flamethrower held up? Has it met the sort of expectations the team envisioned yet? Tweet on the 6th [of Oct] said the shell for the flamethrower was implemented. I guess a general sum-up question instead of asking many would just be "Did the flamethrower go the path of auto-bite but we haven't heard about it, or is it still looking like a newly added item to the marines' arsenal?" The same question could probably be formatted for a number of other tweets as well...


The only other question I can imagine right now is... does the success of NS2 lead to something fabulous, like, say... gorge plushies? ;D [or must I finally break down and learn some arts-and-crafts skills?! heehee]

This post has been edited by MrWizard: Oct 29 2009, 04:45 AM

[locallyunscene]

Thanks for the response compy!

My main questions would be:

Do you expect the alpha to be released in the Fall 2009 timeframe?(I don't really expect this one to be answered, but it is #1 on my mind)

There have been a lot of ideas on the forums on how to ease new players into the game from tutorials, achievements, challenges, bots, ranked servers, matchmaking, ranked players, handicaps, ns2guides, wiki expansion, tooltip expansion, etc. Are you actually considering anything for a 1.0 release?

Is DI still a main facet of the game?

[homicide]

You can still bunny as a skulk.

1) Please outline the similarities and differences between NS1 player control and NS2 player control (special abilities excluded).



2) Please explain the squad system and how members 'phase' to their squads. Are there squad leaders? Is this a fundamental game mechanic or an upgrade? What determines when a player can or cannot teleport?

This post has been edited by homicide: Oct 29 2009, 05:59 AM

[homicide]

double post

This post has been edited by homicide: Oct 29 2009, 05:58 AM

[FocusedWolf]

Physx is awesome and so is Cuda... can't wait to use it for my senior project. Hence the new videocard i got :P

[Sirot]

I am depressed that the PhysX thing had to be addressed so directly.

[Invader_Scoot]

Very good effort here Comprox, it's exactly what the community has been begging for.

I hope to see more answers soon!

[Bacillus]

Great job with the responses. I was starting to hope for some kind of information after over a month of twittering only.

What is Kurt's job? So far he has only been mentioned in the twitter.

Hearing more about the autobite would be interesting too, as I never got a good grasp on how it should have worked, why it was needed and why it didn't get added after all.



This post has been edited by Bacillus: Oct 29 2009, 09:21 AM