As you all know, we strongly value our ties to you, the community. When we released NS v1.0 after 18 months (games were easier back then!), in some ways that really marked the beginning of the game's development, not the end of it. Over the course of five or so years and around 20 versions, the game changed remarkably. Some may argue it actually changed too much, but I believe the "spirit" of the game was always preserved. Maps, abilities and balance changed, but teamwork, depth and atmosphere remained. It's also much more gratifying to work on a game that people are playing, and many bugs and issues that would be hard to track down ourselves are revealed instantly under the communal magnifying glass of many thousands of players.
So releasing new versions and taking feedback is in our blood. Even though NS2 is a commercial game, we pursued this approach with our developer blog updates, early tools releases and engine test. This is especially helpful for us making a PC game, because the few computers we have around the office are not nearly enough for compatibility testing. We've also used this "open" approach to help run our business and stay independent - by giving out stuff earlier, we encourage people to buy earlier, which means we can fund the company without having a publisher involved. Remaining independent is not without its drawbacks, but was the right choice for us and has allowed us to build a proper sequel worthy of the original.
Human dominance
Honestly without you, the NS community, we wouldn't be here today. Both because we wouldn't have the money to continue and because all the work wouldn't be worth it. When we needed your support and we started our pre-orders, you were there to buoy us up again. Over 90% of you opted to spend extra money on the Special Edition and for that, we can't thank you enough. We promised to give you special supporters something in return, and we're finally at that point.
So it's with great pleasure that today we take the next step in our open development and partnership with you. On Monday, July 26th, we will be releasing the NS2 Playable Alpha to all the Special Edition pre-orderers, on Steam. Like with NS1, this is not the complete game, this is the first of many versions. Here's what you can expect on that day:
NS2 Alpha 1 content
- One of our shipping maps (ns2_tram), plus some smaller "test" maps
- Marine, with Rifle, Pistol, SwitchAx, Grenade Launcher (oops, and shotgun!)
- Skulks, Gorges, Lerks and their basic movement abilities and weapons
- Marine armory "buy" screen for purchasing new equipment
- Alien evolution menu for choosing your lifeform and upgrades
- Basic marine and alien commander interfaces including MACs, Drifters
- Much of our final sounds, artwork, animations, etc.
Lerks, hydras and skulks, oh my!
We will be adding new weapons, upgrades, commander abilities, maps, etc. throughout our development to v1.0. We expect to patch somewhere between 1-4 times per month. Sometimes we'll need to tweak balance, other times we'll need to take a step back and make a bigger change, but it will be a work in progress. The fact that we're shipping on Steam makes the updating progress much easier for us.
Please keep in mind that this version of NS2 will not be the ultimate super-fun game we're striving to create, it's "alpha" for a reason! While much of the game and systems are finished, we've had to work extremely hard to get to this stage...and I don't want to describe how much work we will still do over the next two weeks! This is an alpha and parts of it are rough. However, we know that the game will get better, and better faster, with your help.
In-development shot marine commander mode
Something else you should know is that when we release alpha 1 at the end of this month, we are also discontinuing the NS2 Special Edition and all-black marine armor. It will no longer be available after this date, ever. Also, players that order NS2 after July 26th won't be able to play in the release date alpha. Here's an in-game shot of the limited edition black marine armor:
If you've been on the fence about ordering the Special Edition, you now have two weeks to decide. If you have the Special Edition, you will be able to choose your armor when you play - possibly at the Armory, like the rest of your weapons and equipment!
This has been a long road for us and we're excited to finally give you something you can play! Now if you excuse us, we have some work to do...
See you on the other side.
For this update we'd like to show off the first of the alien structures, the Hydra.
We've talked about it a few times in the twitter feed, but wanted to go into a little more depth here. The Hydra is essentially the new name and new look for what was the Offensive Chamber in NS1, so its role in the game remains roughly the same. Once built it serves as a turret, automatically releasing a barrage of deadly spikes to attack marines and marine structures within its range.
With the introduction of an alien commander in NS2 the responsibility of creating structures is divided between the Gorge and the Commander. Upgrade structures and Resource Harvesters are built by the Commander, while the Hydra, which is the smallest in size of all the structures, and smaller then it's OC counterpart in NS, is built by the Gorge. One of the fun new features that has been added is that the Hydras can stick to surfaces, allowing the Gorge to place them on walls, and possibly even ceilings if he can find a way up there, which should allow for some sneaky strategic placement. After being placed down, the Hydras will grow slowly on their own, but the process can be sped up with additional help from the Gorge. He also can use his healing spray ability on them, all of which makes the Gorge a bit like a gardener tending to his creepy and deadly plants.
Unlike the marine sentry turrets, which have a cone of fire, the Hydras unleash their spikes in all directions, doing damage to anything within a certain spherical range. Additionally, they have the ability to sense nearby marines, even if not in direct line of site. When they detect marines the Hydras go into alert mode, playing a specific animation that has the tentacles perking up and "looking" around. This means that observant nearby alien players can be alerted to nearby marine presence, if they notice the Hydras entering that mode.
Here's a quick in game movie of a Gorge dropping down a Hydra, and showing it growing to its full sized spikey adulthood.
For today's update we would like to focus on "Tram", one of several maps currently in development. This full sized NS2 map will ship with the Alpha, so those players who have pre-ordered the game will soon will be roaming its atmospheric hallways and fighting intense battles in its beautifully detailed areas.
The history of development on the Tram map has not always been smooth. As the first NS2 map, it was begun long before the Editor Tools were done and before the majority of environment assets had been created. The map's core theme of a large tram tunnel running like a spine though the map, connecting the starting bases, has remained the same, but due to changes in the engine, tools, game design, and even mappers, most of the early work on it had to be scrapped.
We decided to shift focus to some smaller, faster deathmatch style maps (Range 1 and 2), that we could use for testing purposes and left Tram to sit for a bit. Then, impressed by the work we'd seen being done with the editor tools on the forums by Michael "Olmy" Schouten, we invited him to join the team to put his talents to use on the Tram map. In January of this year the map was rebooted from scratch, and in Michael's capable hands it has rapidly become a visually impressive NS2 map that we feel will showcase NS2 gameplay at its best.
The use of the tram tunnel as a design theme not only provides a unique visual distinction for this map, but also serves as a primary route that allows players to easily navigate from one start base to the other, with most of the important areas accessible directly off of the tunnel. We are putting a lot of effort into making maps in NS2 user friendly, not by eliminating complexity, but rather dividing them up into large and memorable landmark themed rooms with obvious primary connecting routes. This will allow new players to be able to jump into a game and not get frustrated by getting lost in a maze of similar looking hallways, and yet still allows players to discover and learn all of the secondary routes on repeat playing.
In developing the map we started with a very high level 2D layout, to establish a general flow, and the number of key resource and tech points we wanted to have on this map.
Each of the internal maps in development are meant to represent a different section or level of a single giant mining and refining facility, with corresponding room/area themes. As can be seen in the layout names, Tram is meant to be the part of the facility in charge of packing, storing, and shipping.
Once the layout was finalized, we moved into whats called the greybox phase, where the entire map is quickly blocked out in 3D in the level editor, with no textures or props. Further changes to the layout are made at this stage, and can be done quickly due to the simplicity of the map construction. Then, in stages, textures and props and basic lighting are added, refinements are made as necessary, and with each pass the map gets more and more polished. It is a lot of work, and never really finished, so it's likely the tram map will continue to be tweaked and polished right up until NS2 is released (and even after!).
Concept art is key to establishing a visual identity and look for a map, and is used by the environment artists to create textures and props. It also helps to jump start ideas for the mapper, and even quick rough sketches such as this one can be enough for a skilled mapper to translate into a fully realized room.
As you can see, in some cases the translation from concept to in game can be almost identical, as with with the Alien Start cargo storage room.
In other cases, such as with this tram repair room area below, the final version can diverge from the concept quite a bit. The concept was instrumental in developing a theme, and used to create many of the props necessary to flesh out the area, but when the room was first built to match, the repair pit area became problematic from a visual and gameplay stand point. It was reworked a few times, and Michael added some distinct visual flourishes such as the angled pillars which really help to contain the focus on the landmark props, and added a nice detailed architectural element to the room.
We hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek at the Tram map, as well as the behind the scenes look into the map making process.
