Natural Selection 2 News Update - Friday Update (Build 136) Options

[Mr. Epic]

Then when ns2 multiplayer alpha/beta launches..

zomg the laaag

cant be worse than a large room (or long corridor) full of laser mines.

[Tylerm1983]

I think the game looks great but the only thing that stood out to me is the marine rifle. It could be me though and it could be just the alpha stages but the overall rifle seems unrealistic to me.. One issue I have with it .. is with the way the rifle sounds when you shoot it and the second issue is the way it looks when you shoot it. I dont have a problem with the way the weapon looks though. N E ways just my 2 cents... keep up the good work guys!

[Squeal_Like_A_Pi...]

Again, I'm really diggin' the music! And the visuals are really comin' along. Can't wait to see more!

I'd also like to point out how I'm hoping for a soundtrack even more so, now.

Glad you like the music. We are really happy with the direction the music is going in, and I've been enjoying listening to the songs while I work. Currently there are plans for a soundtrack.

That obs: someone pointed out as being an NS1 model earlier today; it looks like it has a lot more to it than the NS1 model had.

The observatory shown in the vid is indeed an NS2 model, not an NS1 stand in. It was the one NS1 marine building design that seemed to still fit in perfectly, and we felt that redesigning it would just have been changing it for the sake of changing it. That said, however, the model and texture are both completely new, and, while it may not be easy to see from the vid, it is much more detailed and high res and cool looking then the old one.

I was wondering how u did the video? I mean how did u recorded 2 people playing was either of them a bot or do you have the netcode done in the game?
allso is the game running a little bit smoother than what was shown in the video, cause I know most recording software allways takes away a minimum of 10fps from the game.

That was multiple people connected in a game. For instance, the scene where the skulk runs into the vent, the skulk was Max, and the marine shooting him was Charlie.

And yes, while there is still loads of optimizing that will be done to get the frame rate up, the frame rate did take an additonal drop when the recording software was on.

--Cory

[C4K3]

cant be worse than a large room (or long corridor) full of laser mines.

As you know, NS2 it's CPU intensive and laggy with all those dynamic lighting and procedural infestation with huge poly models and several bump, displacement, shine, reflection and lighting layers for render a single frame... It could work as a cinematic engine for sci-fi movies with low budget production if anything. Or perhaps it could be a decent stand alone like deadspace or fallout 3 if they optimize it somehow but, eh, that's not NS. At all. I don't know why I'll not be shocked with the crappy performance quality of this... thing in 2011 - 12. The only hope is a new generation of computers that can handle this... thing... without lag, but even in that scenario there will be a couple of stereographic amazing games waiting to be played in those ubermachines instead a cheesy plain shooter released in a hurry so, no.

This post has been edited by Flayra: Feb 8 2010, 09:37 PM

Reason for edit: Back off with the rhetoric.

[7th.Wrath]

As you know, NS2 it's CPU intensive and laggy as fack, with all those dynamic lighting and procedural infestation with huge poly models and several bump, displacement, shine, reflection and lighting layers for render a single frame... Is a pile of trash for a multiplayer online game almost as bad as AvsP. It could work as a cinematic engine for sci-fi movies with low budget production if anything. Or perhaps it could be a decent stand alone like deadspace or fallout 3 if they optimize it somehow but, eh, that's not NS. At all. I don't know why I'll not be shocked with the crappy performance quality of this... thing in 2011 - 12. The only hope is a new generation of computers that can handle this... thing... without lag, but even in that scenario there will be a couple of stereographic amazing games waiting to be played in those ubermachines instead a cheesy plain shooter released in a hurry so, no. What a shame of sadsauce.

http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2008..._video_followup

That was all on a pretty low end machine.

[Mr. Epic]

As you know, NS2 it's CPU intensive and laggy as fack, with all those dynamic lighting and procedural infestation with huge poly models and several bump, displacement, shine, reflection and lighting layers for render a single frame... Is a pile of trash for a multiplayer online game almost as bad as AvsP. It could work as a cinematic engine for sci-fi movies with low budget production if anything. Or perhaps it could be a decent stand alone like deadspace or fallout 3 if they optimize it somehow but, eh, that's not NS. At all. I don't know why I'll not be shocked with the crappy performance quality of this... thing in 2011 - 12. The only hope is a new generation of computers that can handle this... thing... without lag, but even in that scenario there will be a couple of stereographic amazing games waiting to be played in those ubermachines instead a cheesy plain shooter released in a hurry so, no. What a shame of sadsauce.

Lag refers to network latency, not to low framerate... in the context of the discussion. Concerning the game performance, we know already that turning shadows off makes the game completely playable. No concern about performance for this game. With LOTS of shadows, it does slow down quite a bit. That is unfortunate because the shadows give a lot of atmosphere. Worst case its just slow with shadows. Best case the optimization makes it run well and keep the shadows dynamic like it is. Alternative case the way the shadows are done is changed eg: the dynamic shadows for certain props could be converted to static lightmaps or something. With the exception of shadows, the game seems to run just fine even with all of the other stuff going on.

[Khaze]

Seems to be coming together nicely. Glad to see some footage, even if it is stampted with work in progress.

[xXSMGXx]

Here is some constructive criticism from me :)

I dislike the new design of marine buildings. They look proportional, but maybe its the artstyle
or the size i don't know. They are just not that appealing.

Also the weapon models look too bulky, similar to that of Doom 3. The weapons in Doom 3 looked too big
and crude. I prefer NS1 design over this new of NS2. Especially the pistol, it looks more like a taser?

Now the skulk model. It looks like a monkey on all fours, not an alien.



Things that impressed me :)

Marine movements, look really fluid and functional. (Mo-Cap?)
Level design. It looks like it stays true to its predecessor, dark edgy and slick. Very good atmosphere.
Gorge and resource tower looked amazing. An improvement from NS1.
The marine ability to sprint. Very cool, however im disliking the weapon wobble animation. Hopefully its a placeholder.

[Atone]

Looking great for a pre-alpha. My only complaint so far are the resource towers. They just don't look nearly as cool as their predecessors.

Also, what's up with the gun's display spazzing out when the marine is entering the command console?

This post has been edited by Atone: Feb 6 2010, 07:18 PM

[pallie]

Nice video, good to see the game is in a sort of play-able state.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet but the part where a skulk is running up to a marine from the skulk's POV you can clearly see a parasite circle in the screen. This seems to contradict the skulk reveal which stated parasite was out.

[Gutter]

Honestly, I believe UnknownWorlds is changing too much. This MOD has lasted 7 years for a damn good reason. That is 7 years of development they are throwing out when they start changing stuff. Change is great but only when warranted or needed. The new engine looks great it seems. Glad they went away from Source. However, changing game dynamics either because they don't fit in with the engine or because they want to go in a different direction is a bad move honestly.

Also, only 10 rounds in the pistol? Looks like a full size pistol to me, so it must be holding something like a .44 mag or .50 AE to limit its rounds to such a small amount. It does have a bar left over so perhaps the capacity changes with upgrades?

[slayer20]

Honestly, I believe UnknownWorlds is changing too much. This MOD has lasted 7 years for a damn good reason. That is 7 years of development they are throwing out when they start changing stuff. Change is great but only when warranted or needed. The new engine looks great it seems. Glad they went away from Source. However, changing game dynamics either because they don't fit in with the engine or because they want to go in a different direction is a bad move honestly.

Also, only 10 rounds in the pistol? Looks like a full size pistol to me, so it must be holding something like a .44 mag or .50 AE to limit its rounds to such a small amount. It does have a bar left over so perhaps the capacity changes with upgrades?

We can't say anything about the changes until we've actually played with them. And if everything turns out to be a bust, UWE could easily go back to the classic NS.

As for the pistol, the NS1 pistol holds 10 rounds.

[zex]

Two observations from the video -

1. I see someone playing Gorge in Third person near the end of the video, is this going to be available for all characters? Or, is that showing something other than third-person-mode, for example a special Commander view mode that follows players?

2. Not only is there's no infestation in the trailer, there's also no infestation crawling over the title screen at the end of the video, like in all the other media. Whats up with that?

[Atone]

2. Not only is there's no infestation in the trailer, there's also no infestation crawling over the title screen at the end of the video, like in all the other media. Whats up with that?

I don't think any of the media released, other than the teaser, has had that effect at the end. I wouldn't worry about it.

[zex]

I guess you're right - that version of the outtro had the "fall 2009" release date, so that's probably why they stopped using it.

[Stardog]

EDITED.

This post has been edited by Stardog: Feb 6 2010, 09:18 PM

[BadMouth]

I hope the alien building shown is not a RT. The old RT looked much cooler than the current one. And I do wonder about dynamic infestation. It seems to be a cool thing but so far, there has been nothing additional about it. Has it been axed?

C4K3, you're entitled to your opinion but they way you're putting it across is rude and offensive. And you don't even phrase it like an opinion, but rather, a statement of fact. It gets very annoying.

[Insane]

So you guys have been sitting on a pile of footage we've been dying to see, been asking for for weeks, and instead of giving it to us ages ago, you keep up with the boring SDK updates and instead give the footage to ModDB?

Thanks, that was really swell of you. Glad you see a contest as more important than your paying customers.

We haven't been "sitting on" anything. This footage was created a couple of days ago. In the context of the competition win, it was decided that it would be a nice way of thanking everyone for their support, even if the footage was rougher than we'd usually like. I have no idea why you see its initial release on ModDB as some kind of affront to paying customers. Everyone gets to see it at the same time.

I know kneejerking is less fun when you have the facts to hand, but it seems like you're kind of making up a reason to be angry here.

[perfectheat]

I have praised this video before, but thought I would go more into details now that I have calmed down and looked through it again.

Although I were actually one of the people who would have liked to see the new "taser" concept come to life, I really like the new pistol and especially the way you ###### it. Nice to see you brought in something new there. It also really fits with the machine gun who has a really cool unfolding animation by the way. Only have minor notes on both. Know you wont change of any of this, know I wouldn't, but the metal frame around the ammo counter on the pistol feels a bit like a "frame in a frame" and by that a smaller display. And at first I (and others) thought it would be cool if the top bit of the machine gun looked more like a handle, but that kinda defies the folding concept as you wouldn't carry it like that unfolded. What I thought was that it felt a bit like a wall at the beginning, or more like some kind of plasma weapon from Warhammer 40k, nothing wrong with that though. Now I really like it. Looking forward to seeing the HMG and the new exoskeleton, please do surprise us.

And the model sizes will of course be revised throughout the alpha and beta, the pistol is almost as big as the machine gun in the view now, I actually think the machine gun is a bit to small in the view now... just a bit.

Of the structures the resource tower is by far my favorite. It's a beauty. And I also really like the new com-station, even the size as the old one is too small. I agree on the observatory, it works well in NS. The new turrets are way better then the old ones. Feel much more army now and like the new "one armed telescope" part. Also cool that you use more exposed wires everywhere, reminds me of the first time I saw a alpha shot of Tribes 2 and the elf gun, just don't overdo it. The siege turret factory looks like a beast! If that is what it is. Guess it have to be that big and compact.

Only thing in base I have a problem with is armory, it's good, but could be less boxy and view blocking, know it's been mentioned before. Would probably have tried out something semi-cylindrical, with the "arms" being over head and on the floor, opening up a bit like a scaled umbrella(thinking the wings of a GITS copter) for a approaching marine... But! It's good that the structures look like they are built for transport now. And moving on.

Really like the new Kharaa resource tower, thought of "the hand of nod", guess it's being grown in the video. All the Kharaa models have been amazing so far. Hope you'll have the teeth poke animation on the Skulk. The marine model is also very nice. Like how the shoulder plates and helmet fit together like a trio when approaching the model. Not the biggest fan of the back-pockets, but they are funny! A lot of talk about the marine sprint, I missed to be able to in NS, and I know you will revise the weapon swing. Hopefully it wont take to long to start shooting when coming from a run in the final release though.

The weld-bot kicks ass. The old game Iron Helix came into my head although it doesn't look like those bots. The music sounds really good, but not very original, a bit to generic contemporary army game soundtracks. Looking forward to hearing more from it and the atmospheric sound layers beneath. The animations have been topnotch and will continue like that.

My biggest hope is that you keep the gui "cross" interface concept from NS. Giving it a good looking design is the hardest though. Can't think of a single game that have really nice design on their gui, except maybe the weapon modification in Crysis, the one thing that game had going. But less i more! Really hate graphics that interfere to much with the view, like the grenade trajectory gfx in Gears, although it's very logical for a futuristic helmet to have bits of holographic information on top the real world.

Graphics and levedesign are good ant the framerate is better then expected in a pre-alpha. As a fellow game/graphics designer I must say it's cool that you are showing people this video. I'm working on a game, it's very different from this, it's probably close to being alpha, but I have only shown in to some friends, which can actually be worse as I regard their negative feedback more, even if they are not gamers. But it's all part of the job. One can't please everyone because then one would never release a product.

Keep up the truly inspiring work and thank you!

[Eddie]

I know kneejerking is less fun when you have the facts to hand, but it seems like you're kind of making up a reason to be angry here.

Temphage making up reasons to be angry??? That's crazy talk.