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Written by Comprox
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Saturday, 31 October 2009 |
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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! Discussion!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 31 October 2009 )
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Written by Comprox
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Monday, 15 June 2009 |
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Charlie took some time to answer more oddball questions that people have been asking on the forums and IRC. Some of these have been answered but this is just a nice area to get all the answers together.
Engine:
What admin functionality (kick. ban, mute, etc) functionality will the
game have out of the so-called box?
Not sure yet.
What shader model is the engine using? 2.0 or 3.0?
2.0.
What resolutions wlil the engine support? Will it support frameless
windowed mode (for us multiple monitor people)?
Many resolutions. We've talked about frameless windowed mode but don't really understand the point of it. (Ed. Note: I explained to Charlie the wonders of using it, we shall see!).
Will the game make use of physics at all (including destructible environments)?
We have great physics in game but not destructible walls.
Will the engine be licensable once it is done?
Most likely.
Do you have any stats for the server side yet (OS, network/cpu/memory
usage, etc)?
Nope.
Does the engine support surround sound? It uses FMOD which I believe supports surround sound. Does the engine support downloading custom content from www urls?
(sv_downloadurl in hl1/2)?
Not sure about the first version of NS2 but we plan on supporting this fully.
Game/Beta/Alpha:
At what point will people be able to run their own servers?
We're not sure yet, but probably at least some during the beta.
When will the tools be released so people can start making content?
We don't have a date yet but this is our next goal milestone.
When will the special edition stop being sold? Will the black armour
disappear with it? And will the final regular price stay at the $20
(meaning the $40 SE will disappear)?
We're not sure about any of this but the Special Edition has been selling very well so I don't think we're going to stop it any time soon.
Unsure yet.
Will Vet and/or Constellation icons show up in NS2?
Probably not.
Will custom content (ie: maps) made during the alpha/beta be able to
be released as soon as the game is released? Are you guys still
looking at buying up some of the community content?
We would love to work with the community and release some of their maps officially with NS2. We are a small team and probably can't make all the maps. In NS1 the official team made only a few maps out of 20+ maps that ultimately shipped with the game!
What number of players is NS2 being designed for? NS1 appeared to be
set for 6x6 and is it the same for NS2?
It should work with any number of players, although it will be a lot more fun with more than 6 or so players.
You should be able to buy NS2 from Unknown Worlds or from Valve over Steam. What we don't know currently is if you PRE-ORDER, whether you will be able to "convert" that into a Steam version of the game later, so it was just like you waited until it was released on Steam and bought it there. Valve has done this for other games with independent pre-order programs, but has not told us whether they will do it for us or not. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 15 June 2009 )
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Written by Comprox
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Wednesday, 23 April 2008 |
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Some good folks have been hard at working at turning back the clock on the Natural Selection universe and converting it to a 2D format, know as Starstrike. Right now the AI is fairly simple, but their latest blog update talks about how the marine AI is quite competent, but work is needed for the alien AI still. Make sure you read the site for any problems you may have and give them some feedback. Personally, I suck in 2D just as much as I did in 3D. 
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Last Updated ( Monday, 15 June 2009 )
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Written by Comprox
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Sunday, 20 April 2008 |
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It's time for an update, but instead of rehashing what has been discussed on the UWE site, we shall focus on some community news. A user by the name of Mojokdirector has begun work on a short live action/CGI movie based off the NS universe. He has been posting periodic updates in this forum thread showing off the armour he has been making for the movie as well as some early CGI shots. Even better he just released a short test movie showing it all coming together. |
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Written by Comprox
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Tuesday, 20 March 2007 |
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Check out the latest concept art buried in a recent blog post on the UWE site: 
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 March 2007 )
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Written by Comprox
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
It's coming out Friday, March 2nd at 5pm EST. Join the party!
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