Natural Selection 2 Engine Test

[Vandamguy]

Is it a 2d fighter where all the characters are ballsacks? And you send us regular updates on player models?

if i had the creative ability to take a picture of my nutsack and make it look 8bit pixely this post wouldn't be here.

[Vandamguy]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=4473.msg146946#msg146946 date=1271264880]
Is it a 2d fighter where all the characters are ballsacks? And you send us regular updates on player models?

if i had the creative ability to take a picture of my nutsack and make it look 8bit pixely this post wouldn't be here.
[/quote]


gota chalenge yourself sometimes.
(not my nutsack btw)

[copulatingduck]

Bishop Antonio?

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

I can see your point, but what do we do then?  Say to indies, "Well, we're not willing to give you money up front, you have no capital to work with, so first make something awesome, and revolutionary, and then some ppl will consider buying it but most people will just steal it anyway."  That's akin to suggesting that all creativity in the gaming industry is dead and there nothing we can do about it and all we can expect is the next installment of COD and BF.

[copulatingduck]

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there buddy,  I think you're jumping to too many conclusions too quickly



Imo I absolutely agree with the point that anyone working in the game industry needs experience on smaller projects to get their chops in order and to make sure they understand that developing and selling a game go WAY beyond simply being a good coder.

I considered school great for teaching basic engineering skills, but having worked on smaller engineering projects during my education, I can safely say that developing a great product (in this case a robot) entails a LOT more than having good coders and engineers. I'm certain that the same can be said for game development.

In the case of Natural Selection 2, the biggest barrier, by Charlie Cleveland's own admission, is one of cashflow.  I don't fault them for that, it's what happens when your most popular game released is a free mod. But I do fault them for a slow development cycle, which is a direct result of their insistence on funding the game with some random sudoku game (how many pc gamers want to play sudoku on their computer) and their own money, because all the developer money had too many "strings attached" and Unknown Worlds insisted on remaining true to themselves, or something goofy like that.

I'm not trying to hate on them, I want the game to do well, really I do, and the few videos they've released look fantastic. But it's all the little things like "We'll release when it's done" and "No scheduled date for alpha" that, seemingly by UW's own volition, conjure up memories of another recent project with the same attitude. Duke Nukem Forever was a huge disappointment to a LOT of people, and while UW's development of NS2 is nowhere near as protracted as DNF's, in my mind it's certainly shaping up to be that way. Insisting on funding a project is cool and all if you've got the intelligence and ambition (a la Romero and Carmack) or the resources (Gabe Newell made a shitload of money working at Microsoft long before he decided to fund Half-Life out of his own pockets). But UW has none of that, and I'd rather not dump money into a hobby that I may or may not even have time for once NS2 actually launches.

Personally I think the idea of having the gamers themselves fund a project is a cool idea (I think someone linked to a Gabe Newell interview that touched on that very topic), and it has some merit, but gamers already complain about prices, and piracy is already a problem; I'm not sure how much money you can actually weasel out of gamers for "a cool idea." The only people who I think would really benefit from a scheme like this are the folks that don't need it. Blizzard and Valve have enormous fanbases, and being a part of either is essentially having a license to print money. I'd imagine if access to the beta of HL2:E3, D3, or SC2 was promised to fans on the basis of preorders, both companies would have been sitting on fat stacks long before we got even a tease of either game. But both companies are already sitting on fat stacks, I don't think they really need the boost in cashflow all that much.

Anyways, like I said, it's unfortunate that the smaller companies who would benefit most from a scheme like that will probably be the least likely to ever see it come to fruition, but that's just the way things work. If they had something truly revolutionary, they wouldn't even need to peddle to gamers, as I'm sure VC money comes with much fewer strings attached for a great idea. And I'm not even going to venture a guess as to how you connected a revolutionary product to piracy and then made the jump to a dead industry with no creativity. I'm going to guess that was a knee-jerk response, but if you wanna flesh it out I'd be interested in at least hearing the argument for that.

tl;dr I hope the development goes well, I'd love to see the game come out, but I can't see myself dumping money into a company whose development cycle doesn't match up with my own values (think discounted dollars and games). And to indie gaming companies everywhere, and really any startup, Yes, you do have to start from the bottom and work your way up, unless you're filthy rich like Gabe or a genius like John

[copulatingduck]

also, in b4 "COOL ESSAY NERD"

____, Reveal

[Vandamguy]

bla bla bla

I like when you're sober enough to make a good post duck

[at0m]

Wikipedia says anticipated release is Summer 2012. I'm not holding my breath, but I'm looking forward to wearing my black Special Edition Preorder armor.

[rumsfald]

black armor is the new DNF

I preordered too...wonder if I could even find my code?

[at0m]

The 'closed beta' has been public on STEAM since 2010, if you activated your code it should show in your games list. But no official actual release date as of this time.